Boys Will Be Boys
by Cajun Quinn
Summary: Follow the adventures of a young Remy LeBeau and his cousins Emil Lapin and Etienne Marceaux as they get into mischief and trouble while growing up. Starts just after Remy is adopted by Jean-Luc and will eventually end in present day. ;)
1. New Friends

Boys Will Be Boys

(NOTE: Remy, Emil, Etienne, Jean-Luc, Henri, Theoren and anyone else who pops up during the course of the story all belong to Marvel. I'm just writing this for fun, not making any money, as always.)

***

Chapter One: New Friends

"I'm bored."

Jean-Luc LeBeau resisted the urge to laugh in his young son's face. Fortunately for him, he had heard that particular phrase numerous times over the years, and he had an answer. "So go find something to do."

Remy rolled his strange red-on-black eyes and sighed. "I've already done everyt'ing you'll let me do, an' de t'ings I wouldn' mind doin', you won' let me."

"Dere's a reason for dat, petit. But don' worry 'bout dat. Are you sure you can' t'ink of anyt'ing to do?" Jean-Luc asked.

"Dere's not'ing to do an' no one to do it wit'. Ev'ryone else is old."

This time Jean-Luc _did_ laugh. "I s'pose I should take exception to dat statement, but I won'." He said. "It's not easy for you, bein' around adults all de time, is it?"

Remy shook his head, his scraggily hair falling into his eyes. "Dere's no one here my age."

Jean-Luc was silent for a moment, thinking about what to do to rectify the situation. Remy had been part of his family for almost a month, and he had yet to meet the two youngest members of the New Orleans Thieves Guild. Jean-Luc wasn't sure why he and the older members had kept Remy from meeting the other boys, but now was as good as time as any to let him know he wasn't the only one. "You're actually not de youngest, Remy. In fact, dere are two boys in dis guild who would make good friends for you, if you'd like to get to know dem."

Remy's eyes first brightened at the idea, then clouded over. Trust didn't come easy to him, and he wondered how easy it would be to get to know the other boys. "Who are dey, Papa?"

"Actually, dey're my nephews. Deir names are Emil and Etienne, an' dey're de sons of my two sisters. You 'member meetin' Theoren de day after you came here? Well, Etienne is Theoren's younger brother." Jean-Luc explained. "Etienne is eight, and Emil is ten. Dey're good boys, but dey have a habit of getting into trouble. Would you like to meet dem?"

Remy nodded. As he did, the doorbell rang. Jean-Luc's older son, Henri, who had been passing through the living room on his way to the kitchen, paused and said,

"I'll get it."

Both Remy and Jean-Luc could hear the voices drifting in from the entrance of the mansion. Jean-Luc smiled when he recognized the voice of one of his young nephews. Moments later, Remy found himself face to face with a boy who looked to be about his age.

The boy stared back at Remy unflinchingly, his sparkly blue eyes gleaming curiously. His thick, wavy red hair was windblown, and he had a piece of licorice in his mouth. The two boys sized each other up silently while Jean-Luc looked on. He knew they couldn't be rushed, and he was glad that Emil had gotten to meet Remy first. Because Etienne was younger, he tended to go along with whatever Emil did or said, therefore, in Jean-Luc's reasoning if Emil and Remy hit it off, Remy wouldn't have a problem getting to know Etienne.

The silenced stretched, but Jean-Luc still didn't say anything. He knew Emil would speak sooner or later…it wasn't often he was quiet unless someone had yelled at him to be. His being talkative was simply part of what made him unique.

Emil finished off the licorice he was eating and dug into his pockets for more. He came up with two more pieces. In a gesture of comradeship and peace, he held one of them out to Remy. Remy's eyes widened and he hesitated, unsure if he should take the candy or not.

Seeing the hesitation, Emil's face broke into a smile and he laughed. "Go on, take it. 'S okay. I can get more."

"T'anks." Remy replied, taking the candy from Emil and savoring it. He hadn't often got candy of any kind in his life, and he was rather flattered that Emil had given him some.

"Y' welcome." Emil replied. "You're Remy, ain' ya?"

"Yeah…" Remy said around his licorice. 

"T'ought so. I'm Emil. Me an' Etienne have been wantin' to meet you for awhile now, but dey wouldn' let us." Emil smiled.

"'Etienne an' I', Emil." Jean-Luc corrected.

Emil rolled his eyes. "Dis ain' school." He muttered.

Jean-Luc cast him a warning glance. "Emil…"

"Sorry Uncle Jean-Luc." Emil said hastily, lowering his eyes. He immediately knew that this was one of those times when he shouldn't have said what he thought.

***

A little while later, Theoren came over to the LeBeau mansion and brought his younger brother with him. Jean-Luc had called him and said it would be a good idea to bring Etienne, because Remy and Emil had already met. An alliance between the three boys would be beneficial to the Guild in the long run. Slowly but surely, the Guild's numbers were dwindling, and both Jean-Luc and Theoren knew the time would come when there weren't going to be many of them left. It would help if the ones remaining were close allies. 

The three boys spent the first little while just talking and joking around. They were still testing the waters, still trying to figure out what to make of each other. They eventually grew more comfortable with each other and they obtained permission from Jean-Luc and Theoren to go outside.

"You may go play in de back yard, but I don' want you gon' near de swamps, understand?" Jean-Luc commanded.

"Oui." The three boys replied as they headed outside.

Once outside, the boys tossed around a baseball and climbed the trees. At one point, Remy looked at his two new cousins.

"How come he's so strict 'bout us not gon' in de swamps?"

Etienne brushed his blond hair out of his eyes and almost fell off the branch he was sitting on. "B'cause it's dangerous."

"So?"

"Remy, we could get hurt, somet'ing could happen to us, an' no one would know where we were." Etienne explained. "B'sides, if we do, an' dey find out, dey'll get _real _mad."

"But what if dey _don' _find out?" Remy asked. "What if we jus' went in, explored a bit an' came back b'fore supper? Dey'd never know we were missin'."

Emil's blue eyes gleamed mischievously. He was usually the one who hatched hair-brained schemes. He was liking Remy more and more. "Dat would work, long as dey don' come lookin' for us b'fore we get back."

"Why would dey? Even if dey looked out de window an' didn' see us, couldn' dey assume we were in de trees or somet'ing?" Remy said.

"Yeah!" Emil exclaimed. He had always wanted to go exploring in the swamps, but had never dared to, mainly because he could never talk Etienne into joining him, and he couldn't go by himself.

"Guys, we shouldn' do dis…" Etienne protested, haltingly following his older cousins as they made their way towards the swamps. 

"Why not?" Remy and Emil replied in unison, checking over their shoulders at the windows of the house to make sure no one was watching them. Finding the coast was clear they kept going.

"We're gon' get in trouble…" Etienne said. "I don't wan' go."

"You don' have to come if you don' want to, Et." Emil retorted. "If you want to stay here, go ahead. But we're goin'. An' if you tell on us…"

"I won'…" Etienne said, stopping and watching them leave. Realizing suddenly, as the older boys walked off, that he was alone, he raced after them "I'm comin', I'm comin'! Wait up!"


	2. In The Swamps

Chapter Two: In the Swamps

"Ya know, it's pretty eerie in here…" Emil commented as he, Remy and Etienne walked along the path in the swamps.

"It's cool." Remy replied. He laughed at the frightened expression on Etienne's face. "You can always go back if you want, Et."

Etienne's eyes widened even more. "No way! I ain' goin' anywhere 'round here alone!"

"Suit yourself." Remy chuckled.

The boys kept walking, pausing every once in awhile to climb trees, throw rocks in the water and look for alligators. They were having a grand old time, and were unaware of how quickly the time was passing.

"Hey! Look!" Etienne exclaimed at one point. "I didn' know dere were caves in de swamps!"

"Cool!" Emil and Remy breathed in unison.

"C'mon, let's go in!" Remy suggested, leading the way into the dark cavern.

As they explored the cave, keeping eyes peeled for bats, Emil noticed something.

"Uh…guys? Is it jus' me or is it getting darker in here?" he asked, a slight waver in his voice. He suddenly got the feeling that it was very late and that they were going to be late for supper, if they weren't already.

"Yeah…" Etienne replied, his voice barely above a whisper. "What time is it?"

"I dunno. Don' have a watch." Emil told him.

The boys went back to the mouth of the cave and looked outside. It was indeed growing very dark, and the swamps were filling with shadows and noises that weren't there before. To make matters worse, the boys realized they had gone further than they had planned. Even in daylight, they knew they would have a hard time finding their way back home.

Suddenly, Remy left the cave, much the alarm of his cousins.

"Remy! What're you doin'? Come back here!" Emil yelled after him.

Remy paused and looked at them, his strange red pupils glowing in the darkness. "We can' go home tonight," he explained. "An' we're gon' need a fire. Since I can see perfectly well in de dark, I t'ought I'd get some firewood."

"Oh…" Etienne replied, moving closer to Emil as somewhere nearby an owl hooted. "Mil, I'm scared."

Emil put an arm around his younger cousin's shoulders. "I know Et. But we'll be okay in here, an' Remy an' I won' let anyt'ing happen to you."

Etienne looked up into Emil's face, a mixture of fear and hope in his pale blue eyes. He saw those same feelings mirrored in Emil's eyes. "But who's gon' stop somet'ing from happenin' to you?"

Remy dropped an armful of wood at their feet and grinned. "No one!" he said. "As long as we stay together an' keep 'round dis cave, we'll be fine."

"Do you know how to start a fire, Remy?" Emil asked as the last bits of light faded from the cave. He would have given anything for a flashlight or a lantern at that point. Or even a book of matches.

"Never made one without matches b'fore," Remy admitted, piling the wood together. "Do you know?"

Emil shook his head. "I know you're s'posed to be able to do it by rubbin' two sticks together, mais, I t'ink dere's a special way to do it."

"So what're we gon' do?" Etienne asked miserably, sitting on the floor of the cave and hugging his knees. He was only eight years old, two years younger than the other boys. And he was visibly frightened by the whole idea of being trapped there in the dark.

"Pray it don' get too cold." Remy replied. "I wish I had some matches…"

"Remy, we're only kids, we're not 'lowed to play wit' matches." Etienne reminded from his spot on the floor.

"Dis ain' playin', Et." Remy retorted. "'Sides, not bein' 'lowed didn' stop us from comin' here, did it?"

"Oh man, dey're gon' be so mad at us…!" Emil exclaimed. "We'll be lucky if dey only ground us until we're twenty-one!"

The boys sat in silence for a few moments, each of them thinking about how angry their fathers were going to be. Finally, the dark silence was broken by Etienne's quiet voice. 

"I'm hungry."

"Me too." Emil admitted, noticing how empty his stomach was. "But dere's not'ing to eat. We didn' really t'ink dis t'rough, did we?"

"Nope." Remy replied. "I t'ought it would be fun. An' it was, until it got dark."

"What do we do now?" Etienne asked.

"Go to sleep an' hope we can find our way home in de morning." Remy said. That was, he felt, the only logical option they had.

***

The next morning, the boys were awakened by the sound of voices outside the cave.

"You don' s'pose dey came dis far, do you, Henri?" the first voice questioned.

"I figure, if we did it, dey can do it," a second voice replied.

"I jus' hope dey're okay," the third voice commented.

Inside the cave, the boys looked at each other, elation showing on their faces. 

"Dat's Theoren, Claude an' Henri!" Etienne whispered. "Dey came lookin' for us!"

"I wonder what Henri meant…?" Remy began as they got up and headed outside to find their rescuers. They didn't have to go very far.

Henri, Theoren and Claude were leaning against some trees just outside the cave. They weren't exactly surprised to see the children coming out of the cave, but they were relieved, especially Theoren and Claude, who had been very worried about Etienne and Remy. Worrying is, after all, something big brothers are very good at doing.

Theoren smiled at his two best friends. "I don' know, mes amis, should we hug dem or yell at dem?"

"Hug now, yell later!" the three boys exclaimed.

After the hugs were exchanged, Henri said, "C'mon, let's get you guys home."

"Wait a second," Emil replied, looking back at the cave.

"What?" Claude asked, confused.

"Well, it was cold in dere last nigh, 'cause we couldn' make a fire." Emil explained. "Do you guys know how to make a fire without matches?"

"Yes." The three men replied.

"Can you teach us? We have de wood." Remy asked, realizing that Emil had been trying to prolong the return home and the inevitable yelling.

"Later." Henri told them. "Now c'mon."

"Later…b'fore or after de yelling?" Etienne asked hopefully.

Theoren raised an eyebrow at his young brother. "Don' push your luck, Et."

***

The boys' fathers decided after much debating that their sons were to be grounded for two weeks. And even though that punishment also included no playing with each other, the boys accepted it without complaint or protest. They all knew, given how angry their fathers were, that it could have been much worse.

Later that night, after Remy had gotten ready for bed, Henri came in to say goodnight to him. Remy thought it would be a good time to ask his brother the question that had been bothering him since the morning.

"Henri?"

"Oui, mon petit frere?"

"Dis mornin' b'fore we came out of de cave, I heard you say you t'ought we could go dat far from home b'cause you did it. What did you mean?" Remy asked, sitting up in bed.

Henri sat on the edge of the bed. He couldn't help chuckling at the memory. "Well," he began. "Theoren, Claude an' I grew up together, de way you, Emil an' Etienne are goin' to. We're all 'bout de same age. Anyways, when we were, oh, I'd say prob'ly 'round de age you guys are now, we did de same t'ing."

Remy's eyes widened. "You guys went explorin' in de swamps an' got lost too?" He exclaimed, unable to picture Henri, Theoren and Claude going against the rules set down by their own fathers.

Henri chuckled again. "Yeah, well, no one's perfect, Remy. An' ev'ryone gets into trouble from time to time. We had it a little better den you, t'ough, when we were lost."

Remy frowned. "How so?"

"We had fire." Henri explained. "Claude had taken a book of matches from his father's desk an' we used dem to make a fire. An' in case you're wonderin', dey gave you de same punishment dat we got. Although Claude was grounded an extra week for takin' de matches…"

"Whoa…" Remy breathed. "Maybe it's a good t'ing I didn' get my wish…"

Henri ruffled his little brother's hair. "Prob'ly. Now you better get to sleep b'fore I get in trouble for keepin' you up past your bedtime."


	3. Leaving on a Jet Plane

Chapter Three: Leaving on a Jet Plane

"But Papa, you promised!" Emil complained. It was three days before his eleventh birthday, nearly a year after he and his cousins Remy and Etienne had gotten lost in the swamps. Three months ago, Emil's father had promised to take him and the other boys to the Air Show for Emil's birthday. And now, Francois Lapin had just told his son they couldn't go.

"I know, Emil. An' I'm sorry. I know how much you, Etienne an' Remy wanted to go. But I can' get out of dis meetin'. Jean-Luc is countin' on de senior Guild members bein' dere."

Emil sighed dejectedly and glared at the floor. "Stupid meetin'…stupid Guild." He muttered.

"Emil…" Francois warned his son. "Look, we'll go to de Air Show next year, an' we'll do somet'ing else for your birthday, okay?"

"De Air Show ain' gon' be here next year." Emil replied, pulling on his sneakers and heading for the door. "I'm gon' over to see Remy."

"Okay, be home for supper, s'il vous plait. An' don' say anyt'ing to Jean-Luc 'bout dis." Francois said.

"Okay, an' I won'. Can' speak for Remy, t'ough." 

Francois sighed as his son left the house and shut the door behind him. This was one of the days when Francois wished he wasn't a single parent. It wasn't easy, raising his son on his own, especially when he saw Emil becoming more and more like his dead wife everyday. 

***

"Oh hi Emil. Remy's in the backyard. Etienne's wit' him." Henri said when he answered the door and saw his young cousin standing on the step. He frowned at the glum expression on Emil's face. "What's wrong?"

Emil sighed and contemplated answering the question. His father hadn't said he couldn't say anything to Henri about it…"Jus' found out dat we can' go to de Air Show."

"Ohhh…well dat's too bad, Emil. I'm sorry. I know how much you an' de other two wanted to go. It's all Remy's been talkin' 'bout for weeks. I'd talk dem into movin' de meetin' for ya if I could, or I'd try to get out of it myself so I could take you, but I can'. I'm sure your father will do somet'ing else wit' you guys t'ough." Henri replied, following Emil in through the house towards the backdoor.

"Oui, he said he would. But it's not de same."

"I know. But you'll get to an Air Show sometime. You got your whole life ahead of you to do t'ings like dat." Henri reminded him.

Emil sighed again. "T'anks Henri. But it ain' helpin' much…" He looked out the door at his two best friends. "An' it's gon' be even worse when _dey_ find out we can' go…"

Emil joined his friends in the backyard. "Hey guys."

"Hey! Three days! Only three days!" Remy exclaimed. "The wait is killin' me!"

"Um…about dat…" Emil said quietly, wishing he didn't have to tell them the bad news.

"What? What is it?" Etienne asked.

"Nobody can take us. Dey're havin' dis big Guild meetin' de same day, an' everyone has to be dere. None of dem can get out of it to take us, so we can' go." Emil told them.

"What?!" Remy and Etienne demanded.

"We can' go. Dere's no way." Emil admitted.

"Dat's not fair!" Remy said. "We _have_ to go! Dere has to be a way, if we can t'ink of it."

Etienne was silent for a moment. Then his eyes lit up. "How much are tickets? Maybe we could get tickets of our own an' go by ourselves."

"Dey're more money den we have. An' b'sides, do you really t'ink our fathers would let us go on our own? It's too dangerous." Emil replied.

"What if dey don' know we've gone?" Remy asked, a twinkle in his red eyes. "Dey can' let us if dey don' know what we're doin'. If dey're at dat meetin', dey won' be able to keep an eye on us…"

Emil smiled. "I like de way your mind works, Remy. But dat still doesn' answer de question of how we pay for getting in…"

"We could always sneak in…" Etienne said suddenly.

Remy and Emil stared at him in astonishment. They weren't used to hearing Etienne say things like that. He was usually the one who tried to talk them out of doing things that could get them all in trouble. He giggled. "What? You guys ain' de only ones who can t'ink of stuff like dat. B'sides, our fathers are t'ieves. Surely we could figure out how to sneak into de Air Show without getting caught."

"Yeah…my birthday might not be ruined after all!" Emil said happily. He knew his father would think of something cool to do with them, but nothing could compare to actually getting to go to the Air Show.

***

Three days later, Remy and Etienne went over to Emil's house. Tante Mattie was supposedly babysitting them there while the Guild held their meeting. What she didn't know was that the three boys had other plans.

"We're goin' outside, Tante." Emil said when his cousins arrived. All three of them fought hard to keep straight faces around their minder, because they knew she would be able to tell if something was up. Today, though, she merely smiled at them and continued her knitting.

"Okay, but stay in de yard. I'll call you for lunch." 

"We will!" the three boys replied in unison. They went into the backyard and tossed a football around for awhile. They knew from past experience that Tante Mattie would check on them in about five minutes and then go back to what she was doing before, not giving much thought to them again until it was time for lunch. 

After they noticed her checking on them, they dropped the ball and walked out of the yard, giggling excitedly. It had occurred to them that they would get into trouble if anyone found out they had gone to the Air Show on their own, but they convinced themselves that they just wouldn't get caught. 

A large fence with a gate surrounded the airfield. There was a huge line of people waiting to pay their way into the Air Show, but the three boys passed right by them. They paused a few meters from the lineup and looked in through the fence, totally astonished by the various planes, jets, helicopters and tanks they could see.

"Whoa…dis is gon' be so cool!" Etienne exclaimed.

"It'll be even cooler when we get in dere." Emil replied. "C'mon!"

They ran around to the far side of the airfield, where there wasn't any security keeping an eye on the fence. Seeing that the coast was clear, they began climbing the fence, and within minutes they had jumped down to the other side. To avoid drawing attention to themselves, they joined a crowd of people, and no one was any the wiser that they hadn't paid their way in.

***

"Oh man, look at dat!" Remy exclaimed, stopping to stare at a huge tank. They had been milling around the grounds at the Air Show for three hours, looking at everything, talking to the military people, sitting in helicopters, and waiting for the actual Air Show to start. "It mus' be so cool to drive one of dose…!"

Etienne laughed. "Let's go ask dat man if we can get inside, like we could wit' de helicopters."

One by one, the three boys were allowed to sit in the tank. When they were done, they agreed tanks were a lot cooler than helicopters. They also thought the bomber jets would be even more fun, but they weren't allowed to get in any of those. Or so they thought.

Some of the planes were in hangars on the airfield, and the people were allowed to go in and look at them. The hangar doors were open, and every once in awhile, a plane would leave one of the hangars to get ready for the Air Show. The boys went into one of the hangars and saw an F-15 with the doors open and no one around.

Emil and Remy looked at each other, identical gleams in their eyes. "You t'inkin' what I'm t'inkin'?" Emil asked.

"Dere's no one guardin' it…" Remy replied. "Why not?"

Etienne realized, as his cousins started climbing the steps to the plane, what they had in mind. "Guys, we can'! We'll get in trouble!"

Remy rolled his eyes and asked Emil, "Why does he always say t'ings like dat?"

"B'cause he's a goody-goody." Emil replied. "Et, c'mon an' stop worryin'! You're as bad as Theo!"

Soon, the three boys were sitting at the front of the jet. Remy and Emil were in the pilot and co-pilot's seats respectfully, and Etienne was in the navigator's seat just behind them.

Emil winked at Etienne, something Remy didn't catch. Remy was too busy reading all the labels for the buttons, gears and meters on the dash in front of them. "Hey Rem?"

Remy looked at Emil. "Yeah?"

Emil pointed at the power button. "I dare you to turn it on."

Remy blinked. He couldn't turn down a dare, least of all a dare made by his best friend. "I…I can turn it on. Sure."

"So do it." Etienne prompted.

Remy reached over and pushed the button. All three of them covered their ears as the engines roared to life. They stared at each other, eyes wide, mouths hanging open. 

  
"Dis is _so cool_!" Emil breathed. He accidentally moved and leaned on the control stick in front of him and the jet suddenly moved forward slightly. He pulled his hands away quickly, his voice squeaky. "Oh mon Dieu, it moved!"

"Do it again!" Etienne said. He thought it was the most amazing thing in the world that his cousin got the plane to move. Remy and Emil looked at each other and shrugged. They both tentatively put their hands on the control sticks and pushed forward lightly. The jet moved again. This time neither one of them took their hands away. Instead they kept pushing and the jet rolled out of the hangar into the bright New Orleans sunshine. 

With Etienne laughing almost hysterically in the seat behind them, Remy and Emil turned the jet and drove it along the pavement in front of the hangars. People avoided the jet, thinking it was on it's way to join the other jets for the Air Show. They inadvertently started going faster and faster until they realized they had a very big problem.

They didn't know how to make the jet stop.

"Oh no…!" Emil exclaimed. "How do we stop it, Remy?"

"See dat hangar over dere?" Remy asked. Emil nodded. "We aim for it an' hope for de best."

Etienne stopped laughing. "But dis is a government jet! If we crash it…"

"Et, we're already in trouble. Dey can' do much more to us if we crash it." Remy told him.

"Oh man…" Etienne groaned, covering his eyes and wishing he were anywhere else but inside that jet at that moment.

***

Thirty minutes later, the three boys were sitting in the office of one of the head military men. He had been introduced to them as Lieutenant Colonel Quentin Gregory. And while they thought it was obvious that he was very unhappy with them, he was actually trying not to laugh. 

"What am I s'posed to do wit' you boys?" he asked as sternly as he could from the other side of his desk. He was trying to scare them, and it was working.

They looked at him. "Call our fathers?" Etienne whispered. 

"I could. An' I should. But I don' t'ink I will. Do you know why?"

The three boys shook their heads, wondering why he wasn't going to tell on them. They found out soon enough though.

"B'cause I t'ink dey're gon' find out on deir own. I have a feelin' dey didn' give de three of you permission to come here by yourselves today, an' I don' t'ink you'll be able to keep your whereabouts from dem. So dere's no need of me to call dem. But do you know how much money it's gon' cost to replace dat jet?"

"A lot?" Emil asked miserably. His birthday had taken a very bad turn for the worse and he didn't like it one bit.

"Oui, a lot. An' after your fathers find out what happened, I want you to come back here wit' dem so we can work out a way for you three to pay it off. Understand?"

The three boys nodded. "Yes, sir." They said in unison.

"Good. Now go home. An' I don' want to hear of you takin' any more jets for a joyride, okay?"

They nodded again and were escorted out of the office and away from the airfield by two other military personnel. They walked back towards Emil's house, knowing that by this time, the Guild meeting was over and their fathers and the others were all anxious about what had happened to them.

"Dis is _so_ not good…" Remy commented. "Even if we could have managed to not tell dem 'bout de jet, now we _have_ to."

"How mad do you t'ink dey're gon' be?" Etienne questioned.

"Well, let's see. We prob'ly scared Tante Mattie out of her wits, we sneaked into de Air Show without payin', we 'borrowed' a jet we weren't s'posed to an' ended up crashin' it." Emil counted down the list of their crimes. "I'd say dey're gon' be pretty freakin' mad."

"Yeah…an' it looks like most of de Guild's here, too…" Remy pointed out as they walked up to Emil's house. Glancing at each other nervously, the three boys prepared themselves for facing the music.


	4. Halloween Antics

Chapter Four: Halloween Antics

"We can' let dem go out trick-or-treatin' on deir own." Jean-Luc commented. Sitting around him in the living room of his house were other members of the New Orleans Thieves Guild: his son and daughter-in-law, Henri and Mercy LeBeau, Belize and Theoren Marceaux, Claude Potier, Francois Lapin, Pierre Alouette and his son Genard. Tante Mattie was also present. It was October 29, two days before Halloween. Just hours before, the three boys, Remy, Emil and Etienne, had expressed a desire to go out trick-or-treating. Now, the Guild had to figure out who was going to take them.

"It's too dangerous." Pierre agreed. "If de Assassins caught wind dat de boys were out alone, dey'd take de opportunity to kidnap dem an' put us in a tight spot." Pierre was one of the senior members of the Guild, he, along with Belize, were Jean-Luc's closest friends and advisors and they took the safety of the Guild members…even future members…very seriously.

"Agreed." Belize said, thinking of how he and Theoren would worry if anything happened to Etienne. He knew Jean-Luc and Francois would be equally worried if anything happened to Remy and Emil. The three boys were, after all, the future of the Guild. They were important, whether they realized it now or not. 

"So, we've established dey can' go alone, mais, who's gon' take dem?" Theoren questioned. "An' how many of us should go?"

"We don' wan' draw attention to ourselves…" Jean-Luc pointed out. "Two of us at de most should go wit' dem." He sighed. "Dey aren' gon' be happy 'bout having chaperones…"

Genard chuckled. "Dey'd be even more unhappy if you didn' let dem go." He commented quietly. Genard was nineteen years old, the youngest of the Guild members present. "As I recall, you guys never let me go an' I rather resented it. Derefore, I volunteer to take dem out."

Jean-Luc, Belize, Francois and Pierre all nodded at their young blond-haired counterpart. They had been hoping he would do just that. They thought that the boys might not be so upset if younger members of the Guild accompanied them.

"Very good. Anyone in particular you'd like to go wit' you?" Jean-Luc asked.

Genard glanced over at Claude, one of his closest friends. "Claude? You up for a little trick-or-treatin'?"

Claude shrugged his broad shoulders. "Sure, I'm game. Might be kinda fun." Of the Guild members, Claude was, at thirty years old, closest in age to Genard. Everyone else in the Guild was older than he was, and because of that, he and Genard often stuck together. They both served as pseudo big brothers to the young boys, especially Emil, who had no siblings of his own.

***

"Remy, you make a kick-ass Dracula!" Emil exclaimed, watching as Remy put in the false teeth as the final touch to his costume.

"Don' say dat, Emil." Mercy scolded slightly as she continued spiking Emil's red hair with hair gel. He was going as a punk rocker. He would have gotten Mercy to shave his head in a Mohawk, but that idea was vetoed by both his father and Tante Mattie, much to his dismay. However, he knew he and his cousins were lucky to be going out trick-or-treating at all, so he accepted Mercy's idea to spike his hair. It was better than not being allowed to go.

"I know. It's de eyes, right?" Remy replied with a laugh.

"Yeah. How hard is it to talk wit' dose teeth in? I don' wan' have to be askin' you to repeat yourself every five seconds tonight." Emil said.

"Not too hard." Remy looked out the window. "Hey, Et's here!"

"Cool, what's he dressed as?"

"Batman. Looks pretty good too, even t'ough Batman isn' blond." Remy turned back and looked on as Mercy put the finishing touches on Emil's hair. Surveying his cousin's punk look, Remy laughed. "You look funny."

Emil glared back up at Mercy, who just shrugged. "Don' listen to him, Mil." She said. "You don' look funny, not for a punk rocker."

Emil forgot his distress as Etienne joined them. "Hey you guys look cool."

"T'anks." Remy and Emil replied.

"All three of you look perfect." Mercy told them as Genard and Claude poked their heads in the door. 

"It's getting dark, boys. You almost ready?" Claude asked.

Emil, Remy and Etienne grinned at their chaperones. "Oui!" they exclaimed in unison, holding up their pillow cases.

Claude and Genard looked at each other, expressions of mock horror on their faces.

"Pillow…" Genard began.

"Cases…" Claude finished.

"Yeah…we're each allowed to bring two." Remy told them. 

Mercy started laughing as the three boys ran downstairs to show off their costumes to their fathers and Theoren, who were waiting in the living room. She looked at her two friends, sympathy in her blue eyes. "You two are in for a hell of a long night…"

"Six pillow cases. Mon dieu…" Claude muttered.

"Correction." Mercy replied. "Six _full_ pillowcases. An' guess who's gon' get to carry dem all?"

"Why did I volunteer to do dis…?" Genard wondered aloud.

"When you figure dat out, tell me why you asked me to help you." Claude said. "An' den remind me to hurt you for it."

"HEY!" three young voices yelled up from the bottom of the stairs. "It's dark out! C'mon!"

Mercy looked at Claude and Genard and giggled as they visibly cringed. "Have fun, guys."

***

"Dese bags are heavy…" Genard complained. He and Claude were each carrying one of the bags, and were taking turns carrying the third one. They didn't want to think about how they were going to carry all six bags between them.

"I know. But t'ink of it dis way. Right now we're only carryin' _half_ as many as we'll be carryin' later." Claude reminded him. "You _know_ dey won' carry dose ones home."

"You kids getting tired yet?" Genard asked. "An' slow down. Dis ain' a race."

The three boys stopped and waited for their friends to catch up. Claude and Genard noticed identical mischievous looks in the boys' eyes and weren't sure they liked it.

"Nah, we're not tired. Are you?" Etienne grinned.

Claude stifled a yawn. "Do you need an honest answer?"

The boys looked at each other and then shook their heads. "Uh-uh."

Claude and Genard sighed, wishing the night was over. "Okay, so where do you guys want to go now? I mean it _is_ starting to get late, an' even wit' us here, you still have a curfew." Genard reminded.

"Well…" Remy began with a sly grin. "We kinda have an idea…"

***

"You let dem do _what_?!" Jean-Luc, Belize and Francois yelled.

Claude and Genard looked at the older men, sheepish expressions on their faces. Suddenly they both started laughing, as they remembered just what the boys' idea had been.

"But it was _really_ funny!" Genard gasped.

Jean-Luc scowled. "Dat does not matter. You risked deir lives, an' your own by doin' what you did. Whatever possessed you to agree to it?"

Claude attempted to be serious. "Well, honestly, we don' know. Oui, it was stupid. We know dat, an' we're sorry, but nobody got hurt. B'sides, you guys can' convince me you wouldn' love to see de look on Marius Boudreaux's face when he finds out someone toilet papered his mansion…"

"Whether or not we would isn' de point. De point is you took dose boys into Assassin territory without permission." Francois told them. "How are we s'posed to be able to trust you two wit' dem again?"

Genard and Claude both looked at the floor, the smiles off their faces. They hadn't realized the others would be so angry with them. Well, they _had_ realized it, but they ignored the warning signals. And it had gotten them in trouble.

"We're sorry…" Genard said softly. "We were wrong."

"Damn straight you were." Belize snapped.

Jean-Luc noticed the remorseful looks on the younger men's faces. "Belize, Francois, could you step outside for a moment? I'd like to talk to dese two alone."

Francois and Belize left the living room, commenting to Jean-Luc that they'd be in the kitchen if needed. Jean-Luc thanked them and then turned to face Claude and Genard. He sighed and started to say something, but Claude interrupted him.

"Jean-Luc, we're _sorry_!"

Jean-Luc put a hand on Claude's shoulder. "I know, Claude. I know. An' I also know you two don' have it easy, stuck in de middle de way you are. On de one hand, you're younger den everyone else, an' on de other hand, you see dose three boys an' want to align yourselves wit' dem."

"It won' happen again…" Genard said.

"Dat's right, it won'." Jean-Luc agreed. "You're gon' have to earn our trust again, when it comes to dose boys. You can start earnin' it next week. In de meantime, you're suspended from all Guild activities for one week. Is dat understood?"

Claude and Genard hung their heads. They were more than a little ashamed of themselves for screwing up as badly as they had. "Oui." They said in unison, voices barely above whispers.

"Good. You can go."

***

"Dis is jus' great." Claude muttered as he and Genard headed to the door of the mansion.

"Oh you t'ink?" Genard demanded. "You don' have to go home an' face your father!"

The two young men paused at the door as they heard a small voice somewhere nearby, calling to them softly.

"Guys?"

They turned and looked up at the staircase, eyebrows raised questioningly. Sitting on the stairs about halfway up were Remy, Emil and Etienne, their costumes off, pensive looks on their young faces.

"We're sorry." Remy told them. "We didn' know our idea would get you guys in dis much trouble. We jus' t'ought it would be funny."

"Yeah, can you forgive us?" Emil asked.

Genard and Claude gave them half-hearted smiles. They were feeling pretty bad about what had happened and couldn't muster up any more happiness, in spite of the memories of what they had helped the boys do.

"Of course we forgive you. Don' worry 'bout it." Claude replied.

"B'sides it was funny." Genard continued. "Now you three get upstairs an' into bed b'fore your fathers find out you're still up. We'll catch you in a week, okay?"

The three boys nodded, and they watched Claude and Genard leave before they ran back up to Remy's room.

"I can' b'lieve Uncle Jean-Luc suspended dem…" Etienne said in disbelief. He hadn't seen either of his uncles or his father that angry in a long time, not since they had found out about the jet the boys had crashed over a year before.

"I can." Remy sighed. "Dey were _real_ mad."

Emil stretched out on his sleeping bag. "I wish we hadn' gotten Claude an' Genard involved. Dat way de ones in de most trouble would be us, not dem. It's not like it was deir idea or anyt'ing."

"I guess none of us really t'ought 'bout de consequences, dem included." Remy commented.

The boys continued talking for a couple more minutes, and then went to sleep. When Jean-Luc, Francois and Belize checked in on them ten minutes later, they found their three wayward young sons sleeping peacefully. The three men would never have admitted it, but they did in fact find it very funny that the young people had toilet-papered the home of the Assassins Guild leader.

"You know, de look on Marius' face would be priceless…" Francois pointed out quietly as they went back downstairs.

"Oui, but dat doesn' change de fact dat what dose foolish kids did was wrong. No matter how we feel, Claude an' Genard's punishment stands." Jean-Luc said. "An' so will de boys' punishment."


	5. Tragedy Strikes

Chapter Five: Tragedy Strikes

"Papa, why can' someone else do it?" Remy asked. "It's not dat I don' wan' help Et, but surely someone else could go instead?"

"I t'ought we could keep it in de fam'ly, an' b'sides, I also t'ought you wouldn' mind helpin' out." Jean-Luc replied.

"Keep it in de fam'ly. What's wrong wit' Theo? Or Henri? Or even Emil?" Remy wanted to know.

Jean-Luc sighed. He didn't want to have to tell Remy the bad news he had. "Henri, Mercy and Theoren are busy right now, as I will be. We need to stay home at dis time. Remy, I need you to do dis. Under normal circumstances, someone else, prob'ly Theoren, _would_ go along as Etienne's sponsor, but right now, none of us can be spared."

Remy frowned and traced the pattern on his bedspread with his finger. "Papa, what aren' you tellin' me? You've said why you an' de others can' go, but you haven' mentioned Emil…"

Jean-Luc crossed the room and sat down on the bed beside his fifteen-year-old son. He took Remy's hand in his, and sighed again. With his free hand, he reached up and tilted Remy's head, making sure his son was paying attention. "Remy, dere was an attack on our guild by de assassins early dis mornin'. Most of de t'ieves present were able to get away more or less unharmed, but Francois was killed."

With the bombshell dropped, Jean-Luc sat in silence, watching Remy closely as the information sank in. Remy's red-on-black eyes widened in horror. "Emil's father…"

"Oui, mon fils."

"Is Emil…?" Remy faltered. "I mean…"

Jean-Luc closed his brown eyes for a moment. "He's devastated, Remy. You know as well as I do how close dey were. Emil's mother died when Emil was two years old. Oui, de rest of us are deir fam'ly too, but when it comes down to it, dey were really all dey had."

Remy stood up and went to the window, looking out on the yard with a solemn expression. His face was unreadable. Jean-Luc sat in silence, waiting for his son to speak again. Finally, Remy turned away from the window and looked at his father, determination and resignation in his eyes.

"Papa, you an' de others stay here an' take care of Mil. I'll go wit' Etienne on his tillin'." He said.

Jean-Luc breathed a sigh of relief. "T'ank you, Remy. You an' Etienne will leave in a week."

"When can I see Emil?" Remy asked, his concern for his best friend evident in his voice. He knew he probably wouldn't be able to talk to Emil right away, but he wanted to know when he could.

"Give us a couple of days, Remy. We jus' told him what happened not even two hours ago."

After Jean-Luc left the room, Remy sat back down on his bed and thought. Remy had only been Jean-Luc's son for five years, and he knew how horrible he would feel if anything happened to Jean-Luc and he could imagine just how upset Emil must be. Emil had, after all, lost the only remaining member of his immediate family. Remy lay down and silently prayed that Emil would be okay.

***

Two days later, in mid-afternoon, Jean-Luc went to Remy's room and knocked on the door. His dark eyes were filled with a sad grief, and there were dark bags under his eyes. He had not slept in two days; he, Henri, Mercy, Theoren, and Tante Mattie had spent the days and nights attempting to comfort and console a grief-stricken Emil. Claude had stayed at the LeBeau mansion to keep Remy company, while Pierre and Genard took care of Etienne. The guild members were a family, and they always took care of each other in times of tragedy.

"C'min." Remy called when he heard the knock. He was lying on his bed reading a comic book. He looked up when his father entered the room and noticed immediately how tired and worn Jean-Luc looked.

"Would you like to go see Emil now?" Jean-Luc asked.

Remy's eyes lit up briefly before he grew calm again. He closed his comic book and got off his bed, joining his father at the door. "How is he, Papa?" 

"He isn' well, Remy." Jean-Luc replied as he and his son walked down the stairs and out to the car. "He won' talk, he won' sleep, he hardly lets any of us near him. I have to admit, we're kinda hopin' seein' you will help him."

Tante Mattie met Jean-Luc and Remy at the front door of her house. She looked as tired and worried as Jean-Luc.

"Any change?" Jean-Luc asked her.

She shook her head, her long, colorful earrings dangling on either side of her head. "He started cryin' 'gain Jean-Luc. An' he keeps pushin' us away."

Jean-Luc sighed and led the way into the house. Remy followed him, his heart sinking as they entered the homey living room. Henri and Mercy were sitting on the couch, Mercy's head resting on her husband's shoulder. They both smiled sadly when they saw Remy, but said nothing. Theoren was kneeling on the floor a couple of feet from where Emil was sitting, talking quietly to the young thief. Remy noticed all this, along with the fact that Tante Mattie had candles and incense burning, but what he really paid attention to was Emil.

Emil was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall beside the unused fireplace. He had pulled his knees all the way up to his chest, and was hugging himself tightly. He looked paler than usual, and his normally bright blue eyes were dull and grief-stricken. Tears ran down his cheeks in continuous streams and Remy noticed that his cousin was shaking like a leaf in a hurricane. It looked to him that Emil was hearing the things Theoren was saying, but not really paying attention.

Remy silently walked over and put a hand on Theoren's shoulder. Theoren had not realized that they had arrived, and he jumped slightly, then he smiled when he saw it was Remy. He stood up and spoke softly to Remy.

"Hey, kiddo. Don' let dis get you down, okay? He's gon' need all of us once he decides to let us help him. An' don' be upset if he pushes you away too. He's been doin' dat to de rest of us for two days now."

"T'anks Theo." Remy replied softly, going over and sitting down as close to Emil as he thought he could get without being pushed away, much like Theoren himself had been doing. He didn't speak to his cousin right away, instead sat there and waited to see if Emil would notice his presence. 

It wasn't long before they got the answer. Sniffling, Emil wiped the tears off his face with the sleeve of his shirt and looked at his cousin. "Remy?" he whispered. The adults in the room all stared in shock. They had tried to get the teenager to speak for two days, and it had taken Remy two minutes of sitting in silence to do it.

"Oui, Emil?" Remy replied quietly.

"Remy…my dad's dead…an' I don' know what to do…I…I'm scared…" Emil whispered, looking at Remy with a sob, the tears welling up in his eyes again.

Remy scooted closer to Emil and put an arm around his cousin's shoulder. "Mil, listen. Dey've all been here for two days, dey wan' help you, an' so do I. You're not alone."

Emil closed his eyes briefly. He was very tired, very drained from the emotional strain of the last couple of days. "I know…" he whispered. He looked at the five adults, who had been watching and listening to the conversation quietly. "I'm sorry…for pushin' you guys away…I jus'…I don' know…"

"You got not'ing to be sorry for, kid." Henri said in reply as the others nodded.

Tante Mattie sat down in her rocking chair. "Come here, child."

Emil left his spot and obediently went over to the traiteur. The members of the thieves guild all took comfort in Tante Mattie's love for them, no matter what their age. She was the den mother, the closest thing to a real mother many of them had ever had. The old woman took the young thief into her warm, comforting arms and rocked him as she used to do when he was a small child and needed consoling after a nightmare or a skinned knee. He was asleep in mere minutes.

"We're gon' go get some rest," Jean-Luc said softly as he, Henri, Mercy and Theoren got up and started to leave. "Remy, are you comin' or would you like to stay for awhile?"

"Can I?"

"Of course you can. We'll be back in a few hours. Call if you need anyt'ing." Jean-Luc said, following the others out of the house.

Once outside, the four thieves stopped and talked for a moment before heading home. They couldn't get over what they had witnessed that afternoon.

"You know somet'ing?" Mercy asked.

The three men looked at her expectantly, although they had an idea what she was going to say.

"What?" Theoren replied.

"I t'ink we're gon' see dose two boys stickin' together t'rough t'ick an' t'in for as long as dey live."

"Agreed." Jean-Luc said. "I t'ink you're right."

If the four of them could have seen the future, they would have known that Mercy was in fact right. Remy and Emil were best friends who would end up going the distance in order to help each other out of tight situations. And the future for those boys was going to be full of tight situations.


	6. Tilling Troubles

Chapter Six: Tilling Troubles

Chapter Six: Tilling Troubles

(NOTE: Quite a bit of the dialogue in this chapter was taken directly from Gambit 6. I did not mean to infringe on Marvel's copyright, but was merely trying to tell the story of Etienne's tilling with as much accuracy as possible. Please don't sue me, it's just for fun.)

"Are you up for dis, Remy?" Jean-Luc asked.

Remy nodded. "No one else can do it. You all have to stay here wit' Emil."

"Bon. Okay. Let's go." Jean-Luc said. He was wearing the ceremonial green robes of the Guild patriarch. Remy was in blue. They went to the front of the room, walking between the two rows of thieves, each dressed in black robes with the hoods up. They stood at the front of the room, and Jean-Luc summoned Theoren and Etienne, who were waiting in an adjoining room. Theoren was also dressed in a blue robe, but Etienne was wearing a uniform.

Theoren joined Jean-Luc and Remy, and Etienne kneeled before Jean-Luc.

"De tilling marks your passage into adulthood, Etienne Marceaux." Jean-Luc said. "If you accomplish de tilling harvest you will be formerly inducted into de consecrated Thieves Guild of New Orleans. Fail, an' you will forever be banned from our way of life. As the son of my late brother-in-law, you will always remain a part of Clan LeBeau--a part of my family--but you will never be a thief."

"I understand, Patriarch." Etienne replied, his blue eyes filled with determination and apprehension at the same time.

"Your assignment, nephew. De tilling harvest is given." Jean-Luc continued, handing Etienne a sealed envelope. "My adopted son, Remy, who marked his tilling two years ago--will serve as your registrar, as his brother Henri served him."

***

That night found fifteen-year-old Remy and nearly-thirteen-year-old Etienne in Granada, Spain. Their task was a dangerous one, as all tilling jobs are. They were to infiltrate the palace of the benefactress of the Guild, Candra the External. However, the job went badly when some soldiers who were hired by an evil villain known as The Pig stopped them. They tried to escape, and it was then that Etienne told Remy he knew about Remy's powers.

"We'll never get away, Remy!" Et exclaimed, holding on for dear life as Remy swung from one building to another. The soldiers fired their guns, but miraculously missed the teenaged boys.

"Yah we will!" Remy replied with as much confidence as he could muster.

"Use your powers!"

Remy almost let go of the cord he was using. "?! You--You know 'bout dem?"

Etienne started wishing he hadn't said anything. "I spied on you--blowin' t'ings up at de waterfront--I know--"

"I-I can'!" Remy exclaimed.

"Why? 'Cause of de rules of de tilling? Dat you only s'posed t'be watchin', not helpin' me? Heck wit' dat--I ain't gon' die for de sake of a Guild ceremony!" Etienne said.

"Non--is more'n jus' dat, Et. I can' control my powers enough yet--I might kill someone--" Remy explained to his cousin as they kept running.

"Hph! So you g'ahead an' spare deir lives--but it'll cost us ours!" Etienne scoffed.

Moments later, they were apprehended by the soldiers and met Candra the External for a few moments before they were taken away to The Pig's headquarters, where he had a concentration camp or a training center of sorts for kids, most of them teenagers. Remy, true to his training in the Guild, memorized everything he saw, every room they went through, until they were eventually left alone when the other kids went away for what was called 'conditioning' in the display area. When they were alone, Remy said,

"Kids're bein' trained as slaves or muscle. 'Display area' means someone's here…t'buy some."

Etienne was amazed. "How'd you figure all dat out?"

"Eyes an' ears open, Et. Only t'ing gon' keep us alive." Remy replied.

"So I can return home a failure?" Etienne scoffed. "Hmph. Least I stole one t'ing on dis trip…" he muttered, shoving a deck of cards up the sleeve of his uniform.

While The Pig was showing off some of the other boys to the lady who was there to buy them, Hydra, Remy decided it was high time he and Etienne got the hell out of there. Using his still developing powers, he blasted the door of the room they had been locked in.

"Stand back, Et--we're getting out!"

As they made a break for it, Etienne couldn't help but comment on Remy's powers. "Dose powers--like what de Assassins Guild has!"

"I been readin' up--t'ink I'm what's called a mutant." Remy told him.

"Hope dat's enough t'keep us from getting killed!"

"C'mon…how tough can a guy named 'The Pig" be?"

They kept going, Remy blowing up Hydra's jet as a means of distraction, much to Etienne's relief. He remembered the incident with the jet at the air show and was glad Remy hadn't intended on actually trying to fly it.

The Pig, a gigantic monster of a bad guy, trapped Etienne under one of his huge mustard-yellow claws. Et cried out, but Remy tried to encourage him.

"Steady, Et…"

The Pig was furious at Remy and Etienne for making him look bad in front of Hydra. "You're not even a herd number yet, much less a name to me--and still you dare _embarrass_ me in front of a _CLIENT_?!"

Remy grinned. "Apparently…yah."

The Pig picked Etienne up in his claw and swiped at Remy with the other, knocking the teenager to the floor. Remy was hurting…they both were. Broken bones, bruises. They both knew they couldn't defeat The Pig, but Remy had an idea when he saw the cards fall out of Etienne's uniform. He picked them up and used his powers to charge them, throwing them at the villain and using them to blast a hole in the wall of the compound.

Unfortunately for them the building was on top of a very high cliff. The two boys fell over a hundred feet down to the choppy water, rocks and debris falling with them. When Remy woke up some time later, Etienne was nowhere to be found. A fishing trawler found Remy, and the fishermen took him to a Granada hospital, where he was treated for his injuries. He refused to let the doctors call his father; in fact, he didn't say one word about his family or the Guild. Outsiders couldn't know, they couldn't be told.

When Remy was released from the hospital, he went home to New Orleans and faced the Guild. They were upset over what had happened, over Etienne's failed tilling, but something else bothered them more.

"Where is he? What happened to him?" Theoren asked for the eighteenth time since Remy's return. He was extremely worried about his baby brother. All sorts of images were floating through his mind, and they scared him more than he'd let on.

Remy sighed. "I don' know, Theo. I wish I did. But when I woke up, an' dat fishing boat was dere…I looked, Theoren. I couldn' find him."

"Remy, you'll come to Granada wit' me to see what we can do 'bout findin' Et. Everyone else will stay here." Jean-Luc commanded. Seeing the distress in Theoren's face, he continued. "Oui, Theoren, even you. I'll call when we know anyt'ing."

***

A week later, Jean-Luc and Remy found themselves in a morgue in Granada, their worst fears confirmed. With a deep sigh, Jean-Luc addressed the morgue worker.

"Oui, dat's him."

Remy couldn't wait in the room any longer. Tears in his eyes, he went out to wait for his father in the hallway. When Jean-Luc joined him, he said,

"It's my fault. If I hadn'…"

Jean-Luc put a hand on his son's shoulder as they walked out of the morgue. "Non, Remy. Technically, it isn'. If it's anyone's fault, it's The Pig's. Not yours."

"But, Papa, if I hadn' tried to use my powers…maybe he'd still be alive…what's Theoren gon' say?"

Jean-Luc sighed again. "Theoren is gon' be devastated. So am I, for dat matter. An' Emil…"

Remy paled. He had forgotten about Emil. Emil was already devastated over the death of his father…how would he take finding out that Etienne was dead too? Et and Emil had been best friends all their lives…Emil was going to be horrified. And Theoren was going to blame Remy…the same way Remy was blaming himself, no matter what his father said.

"Papa…" Remy asked timidly. "Can I tell Emil? I mean…he's gon' be so upset…it might help a little to hear it from me."

"Do you t'ink?" Jean-Luc asked. Remy nodded. Jean-Luc smiled slightly. "Okay den. If you want to. But I t'ink I better be de one to tell Theo…"

"I wasn' volunteerin' for dat…" Remy said hastily. Theoren was going to be so angry, so upset…and Remy didn't want to be near the man when he found out the fate of Etienne.

"Figured as much, mon fils. Don' worry 'bout it."


	7. Fond Remembrance

Chapter Seven: Fond Remembrance

Chapter Seven: Fond Remembrance

Remy sighed as he looked out the window in the backdoor of the LeBeau mansion. The sight he beheld in his black-on-red eyes was a melancholy one.

Seated on the plush green grass, leaning against one of the large elm trees in the backyard was Emil. He was wearing a blue T-shirt, a pair of jeans and his customary sneakers. He had pulled his knees up to his chest and was hugging them, resting his chin on his knees. His blue eyes were thoughtful and mournful at the same time as he stared into space, tears running in silent rivers down his cheeks.

He was not happy, Remy would know that even if he couldn't see it. Less than an hour before, Remy had told Emil the true outcome of Etienne's tilling. Upon hearing what his cousin had to say, Emil had gone out into the backyard and sat right where he was now, without saying one word.

Remy sighed again and opened the door, putting on his sunglasses as he stepped out into the bright New Orleans sunshine. Silently, he went to where Emil was sitting and sat down beside his cousin.

The minutes slowly ticked past. In the silence, Remy could hear the birds chirping in the tree above them and the leaves rustling in the wind. After what seemed like an eternity, Emil spoke.

"I heard Theoren yellin' at you earlier."

Remy was startled. "But how? You were out here an' we were inside."

Emil shrugged. "De window is open. It's kinda hard _not_ to hear Theo when he's yellin' at somet'ing."

Remy knew that to be true and decided not to comment on it further, knowing that if Emil wanted to talk about what had happened, he would. 

"I know it wasn' your fault." Emil continued after another few moments' silence.

"Yes it is. Theoren says so an' I b'lieve him." Remy retorted. "If I hadn' tried to use my powers…Et would still be alive."

"Not necessarily, Rem. T'ink 'bout it. If you hadn' used your powers, if you hadn' tried, The Pig would have killed you both, an' you know it. You said so yourself. At least dis way, one of you got out alive…"

"Emil…"

"Remy, look. He was my best friend, my little brother. Havin' him 'round was a big deal to me, b'cause, well, everyone else is…older." Emil said, sniffling, not bothering to wipe the tears off his face. "Until you came 'long, Et an' I had no one but each other. Now dat he's dead…added to de fact dat he died de same week my father did…I guess…I guess I feel de same way Theoren does."

"But you don' blame me de way Theoren does." Remy commented.

"Non. An' he won' either, eventually. It may take a long time, but he'll realize it someday."

"Um…" Remy faltered. "Are you okay? I haven' had much time to talk to you in de past month…"

Emil let out a deep sigh that seemed to Remy like it came from the very tips of his toes. "I miss my dad, Rem. A lot. I don' t'ink it's really sunk in yet dat I'm never gon' see Etienne again, so I'm kinda focusin' on dat….Remy…Et's not comin' back is he…?"

Remy closed his eyes in an effort to stop his own tears from falling. He shook his head sadly, his auburn hair falling into his face. "Non…" he whispered, absently picking at a loose thread hanging off his black T-shirt.

Emil sniffled. "So…what do we do now?" he whispered back.

They returned to silence for a few minutes while Remy thought of an answer to his cousin's question. Finally, he said,

"You know, I don' t'ink Et would want us to be sad right now. I t'ink he'd want us, well, you an' me at any rate, I don' t'ink we could talk Theo into dis, to remember all de good times an' be happy 'bout dem. What do you t'ink?"

Emil suddenly started laughing, forgetting how sad he was. He laughed so hard he fell over, laying on the grass and looking at Remy. He laughed even harder when he saw the confused look crossing Remy's face.

"What are you laughin' at? C'mon, tell me!" Remy pleaded.

Emil got his laughing down to a few chuckles and started talking. "Long time ago now, when I was around four, an' Et was about two, we were stayin' at Tante Mattie's house for a couple of days…dere was some major Guild crap goin' on an' she was lookin' after Et an' I 'cause no one else could. Anyway, she made a blueberry pie an' gave us each a piece for dessert after lunch or somet'ing, I don' remember. Instead of eatin' it, we decided it would be fun to use de pie fillin' as paint, so we quite literally painted one of the walls in her kitchen as high as we could reach wit' de stuff."

"Emil! You didn'!" Remy exclaimed, knowing full well that they had.

"Hey dis is me you're talkin' to. Of course we did!" Emil replied, laughing again. "An' Remy, if you t'ink she was mad at you de time she caught you sneaking candy bars b'fore supper…man, dat's not'ing compared to how mad she was at us dat day…!"

"Oh lord…what else did you guys do?" Remy was curious. Emil and Etienne hadn't told him many of the stories of things they had done before he joined the family.

"Well, dere was dis time when he was prob'ly four or five…dere was dis big, serious meetin'…I dared him to put a whoopee cushion on your father's chair."

"Did he?"

Emil snorted. "Of course! Can _you_ ignore a dare?"

"Non…"

  
"Well den. An' dere was dis other time, he got me back by darin' _me_ to tie Claude's shoelaces together…an b'lieve me, de bigger dey are, de harder dey _do_ fall!"

Remy was thoughtful for a few minutes. "De three of us had some good times getting into trouble too, t'ough." 

"Oui, we did." Emil replied. "Although dat time we got lost in de swamps…dat was not fun."

"Non…do you remember when we crashed dat jet at de Air Show?" Remy asked, a twinkle in his eyes.

"Remember?! How could I forget? We had to do community service for a flippin' year!" Emil exclaimed. At the sudden raise in his voice, the birds in the trees above them grew quiet. The boys noticed the change and Emil looked up into the trees. "Sorry…"

"Et was quite a sight dat day…on de one hand he wanted to do it, an' on de other hand he didn'." Remy pondered. "He was always like dat."

"Yeah…he didn' want to toilet paper de Boudreaux mansion either, but he still did it." Emil remembered.

"But if he didn' want to, why did he do it?" 

"B'cause we did it. He never wanted to be left out of anyt'ing you an' I did, even if it meant getting in trouble or doin' somet'ing he wasn't sure we should be doin'. Hey, do _you_ remember when de three of us sneaked into Saints' trainin' camp last year?"

"Yeah…man dey were mad when dey found us dere!" Remy chuckled. "I t'ought dey were gon' use us as footballs! An' dey could have too, dey were big enough!"

"I t'ought Tante Mattie was gon' blow up when she found out…but she didn' even yell once, not after she saw dat cut you got when you scraped your arm on de fence."

"Oui, I know. I t'ought for sure she'd freak out at us." Remy agreed. "But she never even told on us! She can be surprisin' sometimes, dat's for sure."

"Uh-huh. You know, Claude always wanted to play football. I got de idea of sneakin' into de trainin' camp when I heard him mentionin' to Genard dat he did it once when he was a kid."

"How come he never played, if he wanted to?" Remy asked.

"Guild. He couldn'. Even if he did make de team, in high school or somet'ing, he never would've been allowed to be on it once dey found out 'bout his involvement in de Guild."

"Dat sucks."

"Yep. Jus' ask Claude. He'll tell ya how much it sucks. An' Etienne wanted to play basketball…I t'ink dat's what he would have done if he'd come back. I mean he failed his tilling, he wouldn't have been a member of de Guild…not'ing would have stopped him from playin' ball. Huh."

Silence reigned once again in the backyard as the two teenagers sat and thought about how great it would have been if Etienne had gotten to play basketball like he dreamed of doing. Then, Remy asked,

"What did you want to do?"

"I'm a computer geek, Rem. I _am_ doin' what I want to do. Theo's taught me everyt'ing he knows, an' I'm pickin' up a bunch of stuff on my own, stuff he isn' too good at." Emil explained. "I like watchin' sports well enough, but I'd rather not play dem. Hey, Remy?"

"Yeah?"

"T'anks."

Remy raised his eyebrows, confusion showing on his face. "What for?"

Emil sat up and leaned against the tree again, sighing quietly. "Dis. I been feelin' so miserable 'bout my dad dyin'…I really didn' need to be feelin' miserable 'bout Et as well. T'anks to dis little rememberin' game we've been playin', I don'."

"You don'?" Remy wondered. He was feeling pretty upset about Etienne even with the game they'd been playing and it baffled him that Emil wasn't.

"Oh don' get me wrong, I do feel miserable 'bout it. It's jus'…well…if I t'ink of all dese t'ings, of all de funny t'ings dat happened over de years…it doesn' hurt quite as much. I been tryin' to do dat wit' memories of my dad too, but it's not de same somehow."

"Dat's b'cause Et was your best friend an' your dad was…well…your dad." Remy said quietly. He put a hand on his cousin's shoulder, seeing the tears start falling down Emil's cheeks again. "You're not alone, you know. You still have me. Always."

Emil smiled slightly through his tears. "I know." 


	8. Computer Geeks and Proms Don't Mix

Chapter Eight: Computer Geeks and Proms Don't Mix

Chapter Eight: Computer Geeks and Proms Don't Mix

"Aw, c'mon, Red, you have to go, it's our Senior Prom!" Remy pleaded. "It's important!"

Emil sighed and remained facing the computer screen in front of him. He and Remy were in his bedroom, where Emil was working on a new hacking program. "It's important to you, Rem, b'cause you have a date! Dat's de whole point to de Prom. I don' have one, so why should I even go?"

"B'cause it's de Senior Prom! You only get one in your life, so why the heck not?"

"Go to de Prom by myself. Show 'em all what dey already know, dat I'm a computer geek wit' no life. Jus' what I want to do in de last week of school." Emil muttered.

Remy flung himself back on the bed and glared exasperatingly at his cousin. "Emil…for cryin' out loud! You can come wit' Bel an' I. It's no problem."

"Have you told Bel dis brilliant idea yet, Rem? B'sides, three's a crowd, I wouldn' want to impose…"

Remy blew air through his teeth. "She won' mind, Emil. She's not stupid. On top of dat, she an' I are gon' have de rest of our lives to be alone together. I don' t'ink you comin' to de Prom wit' us is gon' cause dat big a problem."

Emil's hands left the keyboard and he spun around in his chair, facing his cousin. The two young men were seventeen years old. In a matter of weeks, just after he turned eighteen, Remy was going to be married to Bella Donna Boudreaux, daughter of the leader of the New Orleans Assassins Guild.

"Remy…do you _want_ to marry Bel?" he asked suddenly, changing the topic.

"I love her, Emil. Of course I want to marry her."

"But…?" Emil prodded, sensing that Remy wasn't being entirely honest.

"I wish we had more say in de whole t'ing, dat's all." Remy admitted. "Once we agreed to de marriage, it was out of our hands. Although we were t'inking of getting married eventually, but not dis soon…"

"Did either of you tell your fathers dat?" Emil questioned.

"Non…it's so important to dem dat we do dis, dat we help create a unification…dat's what dey care 'bout."

"Hey, dey also care 'bout you two. I'm sure dey don' want you to be hurt by anyt'ing dey do."

"I guess. So, are you comin' to de Prom wit' us or not?"

Emil sighed and spun around to face the computer again. "Rem-my…" he whined softly.

"Well, are you? De Prom _is_ tomorrow, after all."

Emil picked up the phone off the desk and tossed at Remy. "Talk to Bel first. I won' agree to go 'til she says it's okay."

Remy shook his head and dialed Bel's phone number.

***

The next night, Jean-Luc waited patiently in the living room for Remy and Emil to show themselves. As Remy had predicted, Bel had no problem with Emil joining them to the Prom, so Emil agreed to go, although he insisted it was under protest.

Finally, the two boys came downstairs. Jean-Luc had to chuckle at them, but he tried not to let them know. They both looked so uncomfortable in their tuxes. In a sense, Jean-Luc thought, it was a good practice session for Remy, who was getting married in a few weeks' time.

"You both look very handsome." Jean-Luc commented.

"T'anks." They replied. Remy looked more excited about the whole thing than Emil did, which was understandable, as Emil didn't have a date, and Remy did.

"Remy, why don' you go an' pick up Bel, an' den come back an' get Emil?" Jean-Luc asked. "I'd like to talk to him for a few minutes, if you don' mind."

The two boys looked at each other, confusion on their faces. "Uh…sure. We'll be back in a bit." Remy replied.

When Emil was alone with Jean-Luc, he looked questioningly at his uncle. "What did you want to talk 'bout?"

"Have a seat, Emil." Jean-Luc offered, sitting on the couch. Emil joined him. "You don' want to go tonight, do you?"

Emil shook his head, careful not to mess up his hair. "Non…"

"Den why're you goin'?"

"Remy talked me into it…he says it's a big deal an' dat no one should miss deir Senior Prom." Emil explained.

"Well, dat's true, I s'pose." Jean-Luc admitted. "I'm very proud of you for goin' even t'ough you don' want to."

Emil's blue eyes widened in surprise. "You are?"

"Oui, I am. An' your father would be too."

Emil sighed. "I wish he was here…"

"He is here, Emil. You jus' can' see him." Jean-Luc told him. "Don' you b'lieve dat?"

"It'd be easier to b'lieve if I could see him from time to time…" 

Jean-Luc gave his nephew's shoulder a light squeeze. "I know. Tell you what. If at any time tonight, you wan' come home, jus' call me okay? I'll come get you."

As Remy honked the horn of his car in the driveway, signaling that he and Bel were back, Emil smiled at Jean-Luc.

"T'anks…for everyt'ing…"

"Pas de problem. Now you go an' try to have a good time, okay?"

"Yeah, I will."

***

Bella Donna shook her long blonde hair and pouted at Emil, who had been sitting at a table in the school gymnasium for two hours, watching everyone dancing around him. "Are you _ever_ gon' get up off dat chair tonight?"

Emil raised an eyebrow quirkily at his future cousin-in-law. "Why should I? Not like I have anyone to dance wit'."

Bel sighed and looked around the gym. "You know, dere _are_ girls here who don' have dates…"

"I find dat hard to b'lieve, Bel." Emil replied. "An' even if it _is_ true, dey won' wan' dance wit' me."

Bel went over to where Remy was standing nearby and whispered something to him. He nodded and Bel went back to Emil.

"Get up." She commanded, extending her hand.

"Huh?" Emil asked, confused.

"You heard me. Get up. If you won' go ask one of de other girls to dance, den you're gon' dance wit' me." Bella Donna said.

"Bel…you don' have to…" Emil began. Bel cut him off.

"Emil Lapin, dis is your Senior Prom too. An' you are not gon' spend de whole t'ing sittin' dere like a reject. So get up an' come dance wit' me. Jus' one song."

Emil stood up in defeat and let Bel lead him to the dance floor, casting Remy a look that said 'Can you handle livin' wit' _dat_ for de rest of your life?' Remy just shrugged and watched them go.

As they danced, Emil had to admit that Bel was one of the more beautiful girls in the room. She looked absolutely stunning in a long gown of pale pink and silver. She reminded Emil of Cinderella at the ball. For what it was worth, Remy was a lucky man to be marrying such a beautiful woman.

When the song ended Bel grinned at Emil. "Dere. Dat wasn' so hard was it?"

"Non. I guess not. T'anks Bel."

"You're welcome. Now go back an' sit down…Remy kept your chair warm for ya."

An hour later, Emil decided he'd had enough. During a break in the dancing, when Remy and Bel were sitting with him, he commented softly to Remy,

"I'm gon' head out. Your dad told me to call him if I wanted to go home early…I jus'…I don' really feel like bein' here anymore."

"Hey sure. I'm jus' glad I got you here in de first place. Now you can' say you didn' go to de Prom. I'll see you later, okay?"

"Yeah." Emil replied, getting up. "Bye, Bel. T'anks 'gain for dat dance."

***

Late that night, Remy slipped quietly into his bedroom, trying not to wake Emil, who he knew was asleep in the sleeping bag on the floor. After he got into bed, he heard Emil's voice from the floor in the darkness.

"Didja have fun?"

"Yeah…why didn' you tell me you were awake?"

Emil shifted in the sleeping bag and looked up at Remy, marveling for the millionth time in the past almost eight years at those glowing red eyes. "I don' know. You seemed to be enjoyin' de challenge of tryin' to not wake me up."

"You're funny, Emil." Remy chuckled. "Hey, remember earlier when we were talkin' 'bout Bel an' I getting' married?"

"Oui…what 'bout it?"

"Well…I can' control most of it, but I was wonderin' if…well…would you be my best man?" Remy asked.

"Oh Rem…of course I will!" Emil exclaimed, sitting up in the sleeping bag. "Um…dey _will_ let me, won' dey?"

Remy snorted. "If dey don' let me choose my own best man, I'm not getting married, period."

"Dat would _not_ go over well, Remy." Emil commented, lying back down.

"Well, dat's deir problem, not mine. You're my best friend an' I want you up dere wit' me."

"I will be, Remy." Emil yawned. "God, what time is it?"

"Almost three. Maybe we should get some sleep, huh?" Remy laughed.

"Oui. 'Night, Rem."

"'Night, Mil."

Jean-Luc, who had heard his son come home and rather shamelessly listened to the conversation the two young men had, stepped away from the doorway. He knew, as he went back to his own bedroom, that the High Council of the guild would not like Remy's decision to take the initiative in even just a small part of the wedding. Jean-Luc, on the other hand, supported his son's decision. There was no one in the Guild better suited to stand with Remy than Emil.


	9. Wedding Bell Blues

Chapter Nine: Wedding Bell Blues

Chapter Nine: Wedding Bell Blues

"Dear Lord…I'm so nervous…" Remy kept saying over and over as he and Emil waited for the ceremony to start.

Emil started fidgeting. He wasn't any more comfortable in the tux now, and half-wished he hadn't accepted the job of best man. "Would you stop sayin' dat? You're makin' _me_ nervous, an' I ain' de one getting married!"

"Sorry…how much time left?"

Emil checked his watch. "'Bout ten minutes, by my guess."

Those ten minutes dragged by. Both Remy and Emil thought the time would never pass, but even watched pots will boil eventually, an' finally the organ music struck up with the wedding march. Everyone turned and looked at the back of the church; a few murmurs were heard as Bella Donna, looking striking in an elegant white gown, her hair up, walked down the aisle on her father's arm. Not surprisingly, Marius himself looked as uncomfortable in his own tux as Emil and Remy felt.

"Whoa…" Remy breathed. "I don' know if I can do dis, Red…"

Alarms rang in Emil's head. He'd been waiting for this since they got there. It was time to avert the crisis. "Jus' breathe, Rem. T'ink of how much you love her, an' remember to breathe, an' you'll do jus' fine." He whispered, careful not to let anyone else see that they were talking.

The ceremony went off without a hitch, as all good weddings should, but when it was over, all hell broke loose for the guilds.

Everyone was outside the church, waiting to have the official pictures taken, when Julien Boudreaux, Bella Donna's older brother made it known he didn't approve of the marriage.

"You don' d'serve her, LeBeau! You're not good enough to be married to my sister, you're jus' an adopted mutant. You don' even d'serve to be a member of de guild."

Emil struggled to keep his own temper in check. They didn't need to add to the scene Julien was causing. He looked at Remy and saw the anger in his cousin's flashing eyes. Through gritted teeth, he muttered. "Don' let him get to you Rem…he's jus' tryin' to make you mad…"

Remy took in a deep breath and let it out, nodding at Emil and noting the horrified look on Bella Donna's face. "It's a little late to be complainin' 'bout dis, Julien." He said in a light, confident voice. "I didn' know you were so against my marryin' Bel. You should have said somet'ing before…maybe we could've put it off for awhile, or somet'ing…"

Julien snorted and shook his head. "Non. It wouldn' do any good." He pulled out a sword, much to the shock of everyone present.

"Julien…what are you…?" Marius began. Julien cut him off with a snarl.

"Shut up, father! You an' Jean-Luc are two foolish old men who actually had de gall to b'lieve dis would unify de two Guilds. Well it won'." He turned to Remy again. "I challenge you to a duel, LeBeau. Right here, right now.

"Julien, please…" Remy started.

"Now." Julien commanded.

"Julien, de guilds are unified whether you like it or not…" Theoren stated, trying to get control of the situation.

In a flash, Julian leaped over to Theoren. He held the tip of his sword right at Theoren's throat. Theoren stood there in shock, unable to move, looking at Remy for help.

With a deep sigh, Remy looked at Marius. "You got your sword?"

"Oui…but Remy you're not plannin' on…"

"Can I borrow it?" Remy held out his hand, waiting for the sword. Marius handed it to him. 

"Dere has to be another way…you have a choice, Remy…" he said.

Remy took the sword and shook his head. "I _had_ a choice, Marius. I don' now. I stopped havin' a choice when he threatened my cousin."

"Remy…" Bella Donna began.

Remy looked sadly at her. "I'm sorry chere. I really am. But he's not givin' me any other option."

"I know." Bel sighed. "Jus' be careful."

***

"What do I do now?" Remy asked, pacing the living room of the LeBeau mansion. He felt like he was going around in circles. His heart and his mind were both racing.

"You could try sittin' down so you don' wear a hole in de floor." Henri commented.

"Dis is no time for jokes, brother." Remy exclaimed. "I killed him. Ruined my own wedding day. Bel's furious at me, an' no wonder. An' yet you're sittin' dere makin' jokes. Dat's jus' wonderful Henri."

"Remy, it was an accident. B'sides, you didn' kill him. He killed himself, when he challenged you. He had to know you're a better swordsman. He jus'…he didn' want de unification, so he t'ought he'd try an' stop it at it's source."

"I did kill him, Henri. I didn' have to accept de challenge. An' now what's gon' happen? De unification will fail…dey all hate me…maybe I should jus' leave…dat might be de best option."

Henri sighed. "You accepted de challenge b'cause he threatened Theoren an' he threatened de unification. Dat's pretty honorable, if you ask me. An' why leave?"

"Why stay?" Remy demanded. "If I leave, de peace might continue. I won' risk de chance of it not goin' on."

With that, Remy left the room, heading to his bedroom. Once there, he packed a bag, preparing to leave. He was surprised that Henri hadn't followed him, but he was glad he hadn't. He looked around his room, pack on his back, and then went to the desk. He put the pack down and sat at the desk, pulling out some paper and a pen. He had three letters to write before he could leave. He couldn't leave without saying goodbye to the people he loved.

An hour later, after Remy had left the mansion, Henri went to his brother's room. He found three folded pieces of paper on the desk, each with a name scrawled on the outside, signifying who the letter was for. Henri read the names out loud in a whispered voice.

"Papa…Emil…Bel…oh mon Dieu…he's not comin' back…"

He asked the three to join him in the living room. When they were assembled, he stood at the front of the room, holding the three letters in his hands.

"I'm sorry to be de bearer of bad news…but I guess it's jus' been dat kinda day." He said, approaching each of them and handing them the appropriate letter.

Instinctively knowing what the letter contained, Emil took his and went outside, not wanting to be around anyone when he read it. He sat on the back steps so he could use the porch light to read the letter. With shaking hands, he opened the letter and started to read, tears falling down his cheeks as he read.

Dear Emil, I've been thinking and I don't think I have any choice right now but to leave New Orleans. I'm doing this for the sake of the peace, for the sake of everyone in the two guilds, for the sake of the people I care about. I don't want to risk the peace being destroyed because of the stupid things Julien did. I know this hurts, and I'm sorry for that because the last thing I want to do is hurt anyone. I don't know when I'll be back, if I ever will. Thank you for everything, you've been the most amazing cousin I could ever ask for, as well as a fantastic best friend. Take care of yourself, Red. Try not to get into too much trouble without me. Love Remy. PS: Always remember the good times.

The letter fluttered to the ground as Emil hid his face in his hands, sobbing quietly. "Bye, Rem." He whispered softly through his sobs.

"He's gone, isn' he?" A voice said quietly. Theoren sat down beside Emil, putting his arm around his young cousin's shaking shoulders.

"Yeah…" Emil sniffled.

"He did a good t'ing today, Emil. We're all proud of him. An' to speak jus' for myself, I'd like to t'ank him, b'cause I owe him my life."

Emil turned and looked at Theoren, his blue eyes shining with tears. "If he did such a good t'ing why did he leave?"

"I figure he didn' want to jeopardize de unification any more den it was already jeopardized. De assassins hate him, dey're furious wit' him. Maybe he t'ought dat if he wasn' around, we could continue wit' de peace de way it's s'posed to." Theoren suggested.

"De way it's s'posed to? Without him? How…?"

Theoren sighed. "I don' know, kiddo. I wish I did. But I t'ink you'll see dat today isn' de last time he's here. I t'ink he'll be in our lives again someday. Jus' hang on to dat, okay?"

Emil nodded, sniffling again. He wished he could have at least said goodbye to his cousin in person instead of just having the letter. He bent down and picked up the paper, folding it and putting it in his pocket. He had a feeling, he didn't know where it was coming from, that Theoren was right. It was really too bad that Remy had to leave in the first place, all because of Julien's arrogance.


	10. Remy Returns

Chapter Ten: Remy Returns

Chapter Ten: Remy Returns

"Aw, c'mon Jean-Luc, let me go get him. Please?" Emil was almost begging. He had not seen Remy in almost five years and was literally ready to jump at the chance to go to New York to get his cousin.

Jean-Luc smiled at the young man's enthusiasm. He wished he could agree to let Emil travel to New York. He had already decided to get Henri to go, however. It would be better for the Guild if he did. For some reason, Jean-Luc felt uneasy about sending anyone and he didn't know why. But someone had to go. Someone had to get Remy. The tithing was coming up.

In the five years that Remy had been gone, he had contacted only two people associated with the Guild. He called Tante Mattie once a month to give messages to his father and brother, and he called Emil every two months. They knew where he was, but he refused to give them a phone number, so they couldn't contact him when they wanted to.

"I'm sorry, Emil, but I can' let you go. I'm loath to let anyone go, but seein' as t'ough Remy never gave any of us a phone number. I'm sending Henri." Jean-Luc said.

Emil sighed. "Okay." He was disappointed, but he tried to keep telling himself that Remy would be coming home for the tithing and he'd get to see him again for a couple of days. It wouldn't seem nearly long enough, but it would do.

As Henri got ready to go, Emil watched him, a thoughtful expression on his face. Henri noticed the look.

"I'd take you wit' me if I could, kid."

"I know dat, Henri. I jus' keep t'inkin' dat I _am_ gon' get to see him." Emil replied.

"True enough. See you in a few hours."

***

Four hours later, a car pulled into the driveway of the LeBeau mansion, screeching the tires as it came to a stop.

It took every ounce of self-control Emil possessed, which probably wasn't much to begin with, to keep from jumping up and down like a little kid saying "Remy's here!" over and over until someone told him to shut up. He didn't, though, and he was rather glad of that when Remy walked into the house, kicking the door closed behind himself. He was carrying Henri in his arms.

Mercy paled. "Remy…wh…what…?" she stammered.

Jean-Luc motioned for Remy to put Henri down on the couch. Remy did so and answered Mercy's question.

"De assassins. Dat's what."

"Dey followed him?" Theoren demanded in shock.

Remy almost made a sarcastic remark, but changed his mind. Henri and Theoren were best friends, making jokes would not go over well just then. "Yeah. Neither one of us saw it comin' 'til it was too late. B'fore he died, he told me to take him home, so I did." He looked at Emil. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

Emil nodded. "Of course. Kitchen?"

Remy followed Emil into the kitchen. "Why did Henri say somet'ing 'bout Bel still bein' alive?"

"Nice to see you too…" Emil muttered, a sad tone in his voice that wasn't just there because Henri was dead. "An' she _is_ alive…she's in a coma…has been for awhile. Marius an' Tante Mattie been lookin' after her."

"Why didn' you ever tell me? She's still my wife, for God's sake!" Remy exclaimed.

Emil sighed wishing he didn't have to have this conversation. "Rem, calm down. I wanted to tell you, but dey wouldn' let me. I'm sorry…"

"Since when you obeyin' de rules, Red?"

"Since never, but I didn' want to have both Jean-Luc _an'_ Marius pissed off at me." Emil admitted. "You're gon' try to save her life, aren' you?"

"Yep. No matter what de cost. I owe her at least dat much after leavin' her on our weddin' day."

"Remy…"

"Don' say it Emil." Remy commanded. He sat down in a chair at the table and pulled out a cigarette. "I won' listen."

"Remy would you jus' t'ink 'bout what you're doin' b'fore you do it? I know dat's a weird t'ing to be comin' outta my mouth, but still." Emil pleaded.

"Emil…I'm sorry…it's somet'ing I have to do. I'll live wit' de consequences when de time comes."

Emil went and stood by the window, staring out into the backyard. He furiously blinked back the tears that were springing to his eyes. He knew what Remy had in mind meant betraying the Guild. He also knew that if Remy did it, he'd end up being excommunicated.

"No matter what happens, Rem, I'll support you." Emil said quietly.

"You sure 'bout dat?"

"Oui."

Remy got up and stood by his cousin. "I missed you too, Red."

***

Henri's funeral and the tithing fell within a day of each other, the funeral coming first. It was two days after Remy had returned, and in that two days, Remy had spent most of his time with Emil. Once what had happened sunk in, Remy was devastated, grief-stricken, and would only seek consoling from his cousin and best friend.

When both the funeral, to which Marius Boudreaux had dared show his face, much to the annoyance of the thieves, and the tithing, which hadn't been jeopardized thanks to Remy's presence, were over, Remy decided he couldn't wait any longer and put his plan in motion to save Bella Donna.

He refused to share the details with anyone, not even Emil, who wondered just what Remy was up to. He feared the outcome, and hoped Remy would find a way to accomplish what he wanted without losing his position in the Guild.


	11. Cause and Effect

Chapter Eleven: Cause and Effect

Chapter Eleven: Cause and Effect

Remy had known his efforts to save Bella Donna would not be easy. He also knew they would be met with anger and derision from the thieves, but he felt he didn't have a choice. He knew the Elixir of Longevity would be able to save his wife, and even though his family would be horrified at him using the Elixir to save the life of an assassin, he had to do it.

What Remy didn't know was that his family would not be the only ones opposing his use of the Elixir.

Remy traveled to Europe, seeking the guild benefactress Candra. She was an immortal, a type of super-mutant known as an External. It was she who gave the assassins their powers, and it was she who gave the thieves the Elixir. These gifts were in return for the tithing. Remy couldn't very well go to his father and ask for some of the Elixir the thieves had in their possession, so he had to ask Candra for more. Either that or he had to steal it from her, something he was not above doing.

When he got there, he got the shock, and the fight, of his life. 

Remy managed to steal a vial…the very last vial in existance…of the Elixir from Candra's possession with surprisingly little resistance. Remy thought perhaps it was because maybe Candra cared about Bella Donna, but in reality, it was because Candra knew who _would_ oppose him.

From out of nowhere, a man dressed from head to toe in black attacked Remy in the alley outside Candra's home. Remy couldn't see who the man was, but the voice was unmistakable.

"Give me de vial, t'ief. Now."

Remy almost tripped over his own two feet. "_Julien_?!" he squawked in astonishment. "But…you…I…"

"I must have it. Give it to me, or I will kill you."

"No, Julien. Dis is for Bella Donna, to save her life. I can' give it to you." Remy said, leaping out of the way of Julien's attack.

"You don' understand, LeBeau. I must have de Elixir. I _need_ it." Julien's voice was desperate, not angry. He truly believed what he was saying.

'I don' understand!' Remy thought as he tried to hold onto the vial and fight Julien at the same time. "Je ne comprend pas, Julien! What are you sayin'?"

After Remy tossed Julien against a wall, the desperate assassin sat there, breathing heavily. He decided to show Remy the truth and took off his mask, revealing the monster he had become.

Remy's jaw almost hit the ground. Julien explained to Remy that he had tasted the Elixir and in a sense become addicted to it. Because he hadn't been conditioned to it, it effected him badly. If he didn't get more, he would surely die a slow, painful death.

"I have to talk to my father 'bout dis…" Remy muttered when Julien finished. Did the thieves even know of this risk that came with the Elixir?

***

A few hours later, Remy, with Julien in tow, confronted Jean-Luc in New Orleans. Jean-Luc affirmed what Julien had told Remy, and expanded on it when Remy asked.

"We have always known of de risk, son. Most of us overlooked it; there have only been a few who have not."

Jean-Luc looked at Remy, after Julien had taken off to assemble a group of assassins. "You have de last vial of de Elixir. Dat's why he was after you."

"Oui."

"Why, Remy?"

"I'm goin' to use it to save Bel's life." Remy replied candidly, deciding he might as well tell the truth and get it over with. He knew Julien would be back, and he knew his father was not going to let Remy do what he wanted without a fight.

Jean-Luc sighed. "I can' let you do dat, Remy."

"Sorry, Papa, but you don' have a choice. I'm gon' save my wife's life whether de Guild agrees wit' me or not."

***

At the LeBeau mansion an hour later, the entire Thieves Guild was assembled. Jean-Luc informed them of what Remy intended to do with the last vial of the Elixir. Needless to say, they were outraged.

"We can' let him do it!" Theoren exclaimed. The others, with the exception of Emil, whose silence was overlooked, agreed.

"We aren' de only ones tryin' to stop him." Jean-Luc told them. "It appears Julien is still alive. He wants de Elixir for himself an' a select group of his assassin followers. We can' let dem get it, either."

"What're we waitin' for? Let's go." Mercy said quietly. She was the only woman in the Thieves Guild, but as Henri's widow, she was highly respected by the men in the Guild, and they often did as she suggested.

The others followed her out of the room, with Jean-Luc taking up the rear. He noticed that his red-haired young nephew remained seated where he was, a solemn expression on his face.

"Emil?" Jean-Luc questioned. "Are you comin'?"

Emil took a deep breath and let it out slowly, knowing his response was not going to sit well with the Guild patriarch. "Non, uncle. I'm not."

Jean-Luc was shocked by Emil's answer. He hadn't expected to be so openly disagreed with. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me." Emil replied quietly. "I'm not goin'. I don' care if you excommunicate me like I know you're gon' do to Remy, but I won' change my mind. I hope he succeeds."

Jean-Luc sighed. "I'm sorry to hear dat, Emil, but I won' excommunicate you. You _are_ suspended from all Guild activities until further notice, however."

Emil nodded, knowing he'd gotten off very easily. "Good luck, Jean-Luc. I t'ink you're gon' need it."

Later, there was a knock on the door of Emil's bedroom. "C'min." Emil replied to it. He wasn't expecting Remy to be on the other side, and he wasn't wrong. It was Genard.

"What happened?" he asked as his friend sat down.

"Julien's dead. For read dis time, too." Genard began. "Marius did it."

"Huh. Imagine dat." Emil grinned. "What else?"

"We lost de vial. Julien managed to destroy it b'fore anyone else could get it. I guess he felt dat if he couldn' have it, no one else should be allowed to. Some of de Elixir got on Remy's shirt an' he used dose few drops to try an' save Bel."

"An'…?"

"It worked. She doesn' remember anyt'ing, but she's alive." Genard explained. "Dey kicked Remy out of de Guild."

Emil nodded with a sigh. "I knew dey would. Did he go back to New York?"

"Oui."

"Dat's b'comin' a habit of his." Emil griped.

"What is?"

"Him leavin' without sayin' goodbye. Sheesh. Hey, Jean-Luc didn' happen to mention to anyone jus' how long I'm gon' be suspended, did he?"

Genard chuckled. "Non, sorry. You shouldn' have sided wit' Remy, Red. You knew he was wrong."

"G, he saved de life of someone he loved. Dat's not wrong." Emil retorted.

Genard got up from the desk chair and paused at the door. "Don' let Theo hear you sayin' dat, kid."

***

"Your loyalty to him is commendable, Emil." Jean-Luc stated from the doorway of Emil's room.

Emil, who was lying flat on his back, head pillowed in his arms, staring at the ceiling, tilted his head and looked at his uncle. "Dat so?"

"Oui." Jean-Luc sat down in the chair where Genard had sat just moments before and looked back at his young nephew. Emil reminded Jean-Luc so much of his late sister it was almost scary. Francois Lapin would never have gone against the Guild no matter what he felt himself, however Jean-Luc's sister Therese would at any opportunity, being an independent individual. Emil took after his mother in more than just looks.

"So…am I still grounded?" Emil asked with a hopeful glimmer in his sparkly blue eyes.

"Oh yes." Jean-Luc assured him. 

Emil grinned. "It was worth a shot."

Jean-Luc sat in silence for a moment, thinking about both the past and the future. Finally, he spoke again. "You're never gon' stop bein' his friend, are you?"

"Nope. It don' matter dat he ain' here, it don' matter dat he ain' part of de Guild anymore, he's de only best friend I got. I ain' 'bout to sell him up de river, so to speak. Ever. Why?"

Jean-Luc sighed. "Good. I t'ink someday you'll find out why. I don' know de answer right now, but I jus' have dis feelin' dat you'll figure it out eventually."


	12. Thief on Ice

Chapter Twelve: Thief on Ice

Chapter Twelve: Thief on Ice

"Jean-Luc!" Claude said, joining the others in the living room. He had gone upstairs to get Emil, only to find that the red-haired twenty-three-year-old wasn't where he should have been. "Do you know where Emil is?"

Jean-Luc and Theoren both looked at their friend, concern on their faces. "What do you mean? Isn' he in his room?" Jean-Luc asked.

"Non. He's not there." Claude replied. "I haven' seen him in a couple of hours, actually."

"I haven' either, now dat I t'ink of it." Mercy commented, wondering where her young cousin was.

"You don' s'pose he…" Theoren began.

"He wouldn'…would he?" Genard asked. "It's so dangerous…"

Jean-Luc got up and stood by the window, staring at the cars as they passed by on the street outside. "He was angry wit' us. It _is_ dangerous, but I truly t'ink he would do anyt'ing for Remy."

"So you're sayin'…" Theoren said.

"I'm sayin' we have to consider de possibility…" Jean-Luc returned.

A few hours before the thieves realized that Emil was missing, Tante Mattie had called them all together at the LeBeau mansion. She explained to them that she had some information regarding Remy that wasn't too pleasant.

"He was put on trial for some of de t'ings he did after he left here a few years ago." She began. "He was found guilty, an' some of de X-Men decided his punishment for lyin' to dem an' his actions was to leave him to die in Antarctica wit' no protection, no food, no nothin'."

Emil's blue eyes had darkened and widened in horror. "What?" he demanded, his voice hoarse.

"If dey found him guilty of de t'ings they said he did, an' if dose t'ings were serious enough, maybe dat's not such a harsh punishment." Theoren commented.

"True enough. Some of de t'ings we've done, would warrant such a punishment, if others were given de chance to try us." Mercy replied. 

"What?" Emil exclaimed again, unable to believe what he was hearing. "What are you sayin'?"

Jean-Luc turned to his young nephew. "We're sayin' we're not gon' go save him."

Emil was in shock, but more than that, he was angry. He glared at his companions, his family, in disbelief. He got up and crossed the room, standing in front of Jean-Luc. Speaking quietly, he said,

"You rescued him from de Antiquary. You adopted him an' raised him as your own son. Den you turned him out of your fam'ly for de sake of dat fam'ly, somet'ing he prob'ly hasn' forgiven you for. Now you have a chance to make amends by goin' to Antarctica an' savin' him, an' you're not takin' it? Pourquoi, uncle? Why is dat?"

Jean-Luc sighed. "I can', Emil. It's not up to us to try'n save him. We can let 'im back in de Guild, b'cause we're de ones who excommunicated 'im. But we're not de ones who left 'im in Antarctica, so we can' bring 'im back."

Emil shook his head and went for the stairs. He needed to think. He paused at the bottom of the staircase and turned back to look at Jean-Luc an' the others. "You say you could let him back in de Guild if you wanted to? If I was him, I wouldn' accept de offer."

Hours later, Claude went up to see if Emil had cooled off any, an' discovered that the young man was nowhere to be found. The only explanation any of them could come up with was the idea that Emil had decided to take matters into his own hands. Without thinking first, of course. This _was_ Emil after all.

***

Emil landed the helicopter and smiled to himself as he took off the headset. He had never flown a helicopter in his life, and, given the disastrous results he and Remy had had with the jet at the Air Show when they were children, he was fairly impressed with himself. Even more impressive was the fact that he had stolen the helicopter from the New Orleans International Airport without getting caught.

After he turned the helicopter off and climbed out, the first thing that caught Emil's attention was just how white everything was. The ground was white and the sky was white. He had a hard time, as he looked through his sunglasses, figuring out where the sky left off and the ground began.

The second thing that occurred to Emil was the coldness. He was wearing his Thieves Guild armor/uniform. The blue and white uniform was skin-tight and contained everything he needed as a thief. It was also not very warm. This was understandable considering Emil lived in Louisiana, where snow was pretty much a once-in-a-blue-moon kind of thing. Emil sighed and reached into the helicopter for his backpack.

Putting the pack on his back, he wished he'd stolen a wool hat from somewhere before he'd arrived in Antarctica. He sighed deeply and, clenching his white-gloved hands, started walking.

Forty-five minutes later, Emil stopped and took off his sunglasses, rubbing his eyes. They hurt from the whiteness of the barren land he was walking in, in spite of his glasses. His ears were burning too, so as he started walking again, trying to see through the snow blowing around him, he covered his ears with his hands to keep them somewhat warm. He didn't know how far he'd walked, but he hadn't been able to see the helicopter in awhile. He just hoped he'd be able to get back to it when the time came.

After Emil walked for another three hours, he dropped to his knees, shivering uncontrollably. "Dieu…it's so cold…" he whispered, his lips cracking. He could taste the blood on his lips and sighed. He was starting to realize that Antarctica was much bigger than it looked on the globe in Jean-Luc's office. He had walked for nearly four hours and there wasn't even a sign of Remy anywhere.

Emil sat in the snowy nothingness that was the Antarctic tundra, his backpack clutched in his arms. He was no longer angry with the rest of his family, but he was still very worried about Remy, and didn't want to give up his search. However, he had to face reality, because he was colder than he'd ever been in his life. The tears that ran down his cheeks in desperation and fear froze before he could wipe them away.

"I'm sorry Remy…" Emil whispered. He knew he had to go back, find the helicopter and go home. If he stayed there much longer, he'd end up dead too, and that wouldn't do a thing to help his cousin. He ate some of the food he'd packed and slung the pack on his back again; walking again, this time in the opposite direction he'd been walking before. 

Before he started walking, he stood and looked up into the white, blustery sky. "Please God…wherever he is…get him out of dis alive…dat's all I ask…"

***

Many hours later, Emil saw the black and yellow helicopter in the distance through the blowing snow. Emil fell to his knees, laughing almost hysterically. He had been praying continuously since he got there, and he couldn't help but be thankful he'd managed to find his way back to the helicopter without getting lost or dying. Pulling himself together, he got up and ran, stumbling, the rest of the yards to the chopper.

He threw his backpack into the co-pilot's seat and got in, slamming the door shut. For a few moments, he just sat there, breathing and crying, trying to get warm. Then he focused on the controls in front of him and found what he was looking for. A way to turn on the heater.

After the helicopter started to warm up a bit, he looked at the fuel gauge. He wasn't sure how much fuel he needed to get back even remotely close to New Orleans, but that wasn't the main thought on his mind. It occurred to him that he could have spent some of the nearly ten hours he'd been walking in the snow flying in the helicopter around Antarctica looking for Remy. He would have covered a lot more ground, and maybe he would have achieved his goal.

Emil started crying again, hiding his face in his hands. He giggled absently through his tears when he noticed the icicles were still in his hair. Suddenly a voice came out of nowhere.

"You're hurtin' Chil'." Tante Mattie had used her projection powers to go to Antarctica and talk to him. She could tell, even though she wasn't there in person, that he was suffering from frostbite, exposure to the elements and exhaustion. "Come back home."

"Tante…but what 'bout Remy…I can' jus'…"

"He's okay, Emil. Don' you t'ink I'd know if he wasn'? You need to come home. Remy will be fine. Trust me."

Emil sighed. "I do, Tante Mattie. How mad are dey?"

"I t'ink right now dey're more worried 'bout you. Once you're safe an' sound an' back home where you b'long, dey might get angry, but I don' t'ink so. Dey jus' want you to be safe, an' so do I. So are you comin' home or do I have to try an' fly dat helicopter myself?"

"You're not even really here, what are you talkin' 'bout?" Emil exclaimed. "Oui, I'm comin' home…" he sighed again. "I'm jus'…I'm so…tired…can you stay…keep me…awake…?"

"My powers ain' what dey used to be, Chil', you know dat. Jus' dis little bit is drainin' me. But I'll stay wit' you as long as I can. Jean-Luc an' Theoren will contact you over de radio when you get closer, an' dey'll be dere when you land at home."

"Okay. Here goes nothin'…" Emil said as the helicopter gently lifted into the air. He headed north, hoping he wouldn't have to stop for fuel on the way back to Louisiana.

***

A few hours later…he wasn't sure just how long it took…Emil landed the helicopter in a field outside New Orleans. Tante Mattie hadn't been able to stay with Emil for the whole trip, but when he landed the chopper he saw she had kept her word. Jean-Luc and Theoren were waiting for him. He took his backpack and got out of the helicopter. Before he took two steps towards Jean-Luc and Theoren, he passed out, collapsing on the ground by the helicopter.

Theoren and Jean-Luc ran over to him. Jean-Luc put the pack on his back as Theoren looked at Emil. 

"He passed out. Tante Mattie said he had frostbite…see, there?…and was suffering from exposure an' exhaustion. We have to get him home so she can take care of him."

Jean-Luc nodded. "Agreed. Aww…kid…what were you t'inking?"

Theoren grunted slightly as he picked up his young cousin. He raised his eyebrows at Jean-Luc. "He _wasn'_ t'inking, Jean-Luc, dat's de problem. He never t'inks. Ever."

"Theo…let's jus' get him home so Mattie can get him better. Den we'll deal wit' de issue of him not t'inking. Okay?"

"Oui."

***

Tante Mattie refused to let anyone stay in the room while she took care of Emil. In fact, she wouldn't let any of the others near him until late the next day.

Around noon, Emil woke up, feeling groggy and disoriented. He licked his lips and swallowed painfully. "Mmph…Tante?" he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Mattie appeared beside the bed he was on and smiled warmly at her patient. "I'm right here, Chil'. An' I won' let dem in until you're feelin' better."

"Are dey mad?" Emil asked again.

"Theoren is. Jean-Luc is jus' worried right now, I t'ink. De others…I don' know. A bit of both, I guess."

Emil thought for a second. "Let Jean-Luc in." he said.

Tante Mattie raised her eyebrows. "Are you sure?"

"Oui…"

Mattie left the room and a few moments later, the door opened again and Jean-Luc walked in, concern on his face. He pulled a chair over to the side of the bed and sat down, taking Emil's hand in his own, squeezing it gently. "Hey…"

"I'm…sorry…" Emil whispered. "I didn' t'ink b'fore I acted…again…least I'm predictable."

Jean-Luc smiled. "We'll talk 'bout it later. An' I promise I won' let Theoren yell at you, much as I know he wants to. How are you feelin'?"

Emil sighed. "Sore an' tired, mostly."

"Well, you get some rest den. We gotta have you getting better soon. We still have dat Monopoly championship game to play…"

"Yeah…almost forgot 'bout dat…" Emil closed his eyes. He was so tired. All he really wanted to do was sleep. So that's what he did. He didn't even notice when Jean-Luc slipped out of the room, quietly closing the door to give his nephew some peace.


	13. 

Chapter Thirteen: Assuming Responsibility

Chapter Thirteen: Assuming Responsibility

Remy wished he knew what was going on. A few years ago, he had been excommunicated from the Thieves Guild and asked never to return. That had hurt him, but on one level he understood his father's decision. However, he knew his father loved him and on occasion he had returned to New Orleans upon the request of Jean-Luc. This time was a little different though.

Remy wasn't sure why his father had called him. When Remy got on the phone, Jean-Luc had simply said,

"Son, I need you to come here as soon as possible. It's very important."

"Why?" Remy had asked.

"I can' tell you, jus' come."

So, Remy had said okay and was now on a plane, heading back home. He was curious about what was going on, and wished his father had been more specific.

When he arrived at the airport in New Orleans, he was shocked to find Emil and Genard waiting for him. He walked over to them, carrying his bag, and grinned.

"I could have gotten dere on my own, ya know."

"He asked us to come. Didn' say why. He jus' wants us to drop you off at de house an' go somewhere." Genard commented as they walked out of the airport.

"Huh. Interesting. And why is one question he doesn' seem to want to answer." Remy replied.

***

"Okay, Papa, what's goin' on?" Remy asked, joining his father in the living room of the LeBeau mansion.

Jean-Luc turned from the window and looked at his son. He was dressed in his green and gray Thieves Guild uniform, and the look on his face was solemn and even a little sad. "I asked you to come here for a very important reason, Remy."

"So, what is it?"

"I'm leavin', Remy. De prophecies said dat I have to. Dey also said…I have to leave you in charge. You are le diable blanc, the one who is s'posed to lead a unified guild to de resurrection. I can' leave anyone else in charge. I'm sorry. Good luck."

Remy blinked in astonishment, unable to believe what he had just heard. Was _he_ supposed to be the new patriarch of the Thieves Guild? He didn't want that. He never had wanted it. And here his father was, telling him he didn't have a choice. "Come again?" 

Jean-Luc simply smiled at his son and walked out of the room. He knew he couldn't answer Remy's questions, and he wouldn't be able to if he could. Remy was just going to have to figure things out on his own. They all were.

Remy stood there in silence, mouth hanging open, watching his father leave the mansion for the last time. He knew it was the last time, because if it wasn't, what would the point be to making Remy patriarch?

After the door shut behind Jean-Luc, Remy realized he now had to break the news to the other thieves. He remembered what Genard had said earlier, and it occurred to him that the thieves didn't know what was going on with Jean-Luc and the prophecies. 

Remy sighed and went to the phone. He dialed a number, knowing he was going to need some help in talking to the thieves.

"Tante Mattie, can you come over here to de mansion? I need your help…"

"Jean-Luc left, didn' he?" Mattie replied.

"Oui…an' now I have to tell de others…"

"I know. I'll be over shortly."

"T'ank you."

***

Remy stood at the front of the living room. Seated around him, along with Tante Mattie, were the six remaining members of the New Orleans Thieves Guild.

"Where's Jean-Luc?" Theoren demanded. He knew something was going on.

Remy sighed. "Dat's what I've asked you all to come here for. I have to tell you somet'ing. He left."

Mercy's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"I mean he left, Merce." Remy replied. "He called me, told me to come down here, wouldn' say why; when I got here, he said de prophecies told him he had to leave an' put me in charge, so he did."

"You mean…he's actually gone?" Theoren asked, checking the date on his watch to make sure it wasn't April 1. It wasn't. He sighed.

"Oui. He wouldn' elaborate. When I asked him to, he jus' smiled an' walked out of de house."

"An' he made you de patriarch?" Theoren kept going.

"Yeah…"

Theoren got up from his seat and left the room. Remy wasn't his favorite person and the idea that Remy was now the leader of the Guild didn't sit well with him. Remy sighed again as he watched Theoren leave. He turned to the others.

"You better go after him, Rem." Emil commented quietly. He felt like jumping up and down for joy…he knew that Remy being patriarch meant that Remy would be coming to New Orleans more often than before. And that was a very good thing in Emil's eyes.

"Oui, I will. But b'fore I do…he's obviously upset 'bout dis, an' I can' blame him…but do you guys feel de same way?"

"Well, prob'ly not. You didn' inadvertently kill our brothers…" Claude commented.

"Claude!" Zoe reprimanded. "That was mean."

"It was, Zoe," Remy said. "But it was also true."

Zoe was flabbergasted. "You mean you're just going to let him say it?"

Remy nodded and shrugged. "Yeah. Why not? Now, I'm gon' go see if I can calm Theo down…"

Theoren was sitting on the back steps of the mansion, staring into the trees in the backyard. Remy joined him, sitting beside him silently.

"I didn' ask for it, you know." He commented quietly.

Theoren snorted derisively. "Den why'd you accept it?"

"I didn' have a choice! He didn' give me one. He jus' said I'm de person who's s'posed to lead de Guild to de resurrection. Dat's it. An' I t'ink he b'lieves in dat too. I mean why else would he do it?"

"You're his son." 

It was Remy's turn to snort. "Dat doesn' mean I'm de best person for de job; it doesn' mean I'm de most qualified…"

Theoren looked at Remy finally, his dark eyes thoughtful. "What are you sayin'?"

"I'm sayin'…I'm gon' need your help."

"You need _my_ help?" Theoren was astounded. He hadn't expected this.

"Theo, I can' be here twenty-four-seven. I'm gon' need someone to be in charge when I'm not here. An' when I am…I don' really know _how_ to be de leader of dis Guild. I'm gon' need you to help me out."

"I was your father's second-in-command for a long time, Remy." Theoren stated quietly.

Remy put a hand on his cousin's shoulder. "I know, Theoren. Why do you t'ink I'm askin' you instead of one of de others?"

Theoren smiled. "I never let Jean-Luc down. An' even t'ough I don' like you all dat much, I won' let you down either."

"T'ank you."

***

"What'cha t'inkin', Rem?" Emil asked, joining Remy on the back porch after Theoren had gone inside. He stood and leaned on the rail beside where Remy was sitting.

Remy looked up at his cousin. "I'm t'inkin' I've got a big job ahead of me."

"Well oui, you do, but dat don' mean you're not up to de challenge, you know?"

"Am I? Even if de two guilds unify?"

Emil grinned. "Sure. It ain' gon' be easy, but you can do it. We all s'port you, you know? It ain' like you're alone or somet'ing."

"Why?" Remy asked.

Emil frowned and sat down beside Remy, his blue eyes curious. "Why what?"

"After everyt'ing dat's happened, everyt'ing I've done, why do you guys s'port me? Why doesn' Theo or someone try an' take de leadership from me?"

"Two words, cousin. Your father." Emil replied. "Like I said, it ain' gon' be easy, an' chances are dere's gon' be a lot of t'ings standin' in your way, but as far as I know, it ain' gon' be us."

"I sure hope you're right, Red." Remy sighed.

Later that night Remy stood in his bedroom, staring out the window, watching the moon rise over the trees in the backyard. It was really beautiful, he admitted, and wished he had a camera to take a picture of the scene.

"Papa…why…why did you have to do dis to me? What's gon' happen?" Remy whispered. He knew the next few weeks and months were going to be full of trials and tribulations. It was going to be a time of adjustment and reevaluation. He just hope everyone involved was going to be up to the challenges. 

And as Remy stared at the moon, he made a vow to himself that he would not fail. He would not let his father down. His Guild, his _family_ was depending on him. He wouldn not let them down either.


End file.
